Fed Survey: Most People Worse off or Same as 5 years ago

Fed Survey: Most households felt they were worse off or about the same as they were 5 years ago when the recession began

Fed Survey

Fed Survey – A study released Thursday by the Federal Reserve found that even though it has been 5 years since the economic recession, many families are still struggling just as much or even more than they were when the recession hit in 2008.

Over 4,000 households were surveyed in the Fall of 2013 on topics ranging from access to credit, household incomes, and the housing market. These surveys found that despite an improving economy, many people are struggling from the aftershocks of the recession.

10% of respondents said they were doing better than they had been in 2008, and 20% said they were at least somewhat better off.

Over a third of survey respondents reported they were in a worse financial position than back in 2008, and another third said they were in the same position.

Of the 4,000 households that were surveyed, most didn’t give many complaints about their finances. 60%, or roughly 2400 people, claimed they were living comfortable or “doing okay”. Just over a quater of the group believed local home prices would increase 5% or less, and 14% believed the prices would increase greater than 5%. About 50% of respondents believed they were capable of getting a mortgage if they applied.

One complaint many respondents had was that it was hard to get credit. Roughly 30% of the people who had applied for some type of credit in the year preceding the survey were either turned down or received less than they had applied for. 19% of the people surveyed avoided applying for credit at all because they didn’t want to be declined.

At the time of the survey unemployment in the United States was around 7.2%, roughly 1% higher than it was in 2008, but much lower than in the fall of 2009 (10%). Unemployment now sits at 6.2%.