Although the Great Recession has been officially over for a decade, many Americans say they are financially worse off now.
Proponents of the “economy-is-doing-great” perspective point to low unemployment and gross domestic product growth, but a survey by personal finance website Bankrate.com found that consumers’ personal experience tells a different story from the official economic metrics.
“There are still tens of millions who are struggling to even get back to where they were before the economy took a turn for the worse,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com.
More than half of Americans who were adults amid the Great Recession said they endured some type of negative financial impact, Bankrate found. And half of those people say they’re doing worse now than before the crisis.