国际英语新闻：Recession hurts more than half Americans: survey

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- More than half Americans have been hurt by the worst recession since the Great Depression in 1930s, a new survey by Pew Research Center said Friday.

"For a narrow majority of Americans (55 percent), the Great Recession brought a mix of hardships, usually in combination: a spell of unemployment, missed mortgage or rent payments, shrinking paychecks and shattered household budgets," according to the survey.

"The Great Recession has divided America into two groups that are roughly the same size but that experienced very different economic downturns," it said.

For the other 45 percent of the country, the recession was largely free of such difficulties.

The survey found that these two groups differ in their demographic makeup.

About seven-in-ten retirees and other older adults largely held their own during the recession, while an equally lopsided majority of 20-somethings did not. At the same time, suburban and rural residents experienced fewer problems than city dwellers.

The survey, taken May 11-31, reflects the responses of 2,967 people to questions designed to measure economic hardships experienced during the recession.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), an authorized panel of academic economists, the U.S. economy fell into recession in December 2007 and lasted until June 2009. The 18-month-recession is the longest one after the World War II.

Previously the longest post-World War II downturns were those in 1973-1975 and in 1981-1982. Both of those lasted 16 months.