Survey: Pessimism on US economy has grown

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Americans are more anxious about the economy now than they were right after the Great Recession ended despite stock-market gains, falling unemployment and growth moving closer to full health.

Seventy-one percent of Americans say they think the recession exerted a permanent drag on the economy, according to a survey released Thursday by Rutgers University.

By contrast, in November 2009, five months after the recession officially ended, the Rutgers researchers found that only 49 percent thought the downturn would have lasting damage.

And that was when the unemployment rate was 9.9 percent, compared with the current 6.2 percent.