Recessions & Recoveries

Response to the pandemic has pushed the federal budget higher than it's been in decades, but Americans are slightly less concerned about the deficit than in recent years.

The experiences of several groups of workers in the COVID-19 outbreak vary notably from how they experienced the Great Recession.

Most Americans say economic problems resulting from the coronavirus outbreak will last for at least six months.

Sharply growing majorities of Americans say the outbreak poses a major threat to the health of the U.S. population and the nation’s economy.

Examine the trajectories of the two biggest recessions and recoveries in modern U.S. history, comparing them side-by-side.

Household incomes in the United States have rebounded from their 2012 bottom in the wake of the Great Recession. And for the most part, the typical incomes of households headed by less-educated adults as well as more-educated adults have increased.

The overall gain in income among Latino workers is driven by a rise in the share of higher-income immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for more years. Yet the incomes of U.S.-born Latinos are still less than since the recession began.

Japanese feel better about their economy than at any time in nearly two decades. But they also believe average people are worse off than before the Great Recession and worry about their children's futures.

The U.S. public is about evenly split on whether the U.S. economic system is more secure today than it was before the financial crisis. Republicans are now more likely to view the system as more secure.

The improvement in the public’s economic mood has been dramatic in some nations, but pessimism about the future lingers, as does a sense that economic conditions were better pre-crisis.