Despite signs of an economic recovery, the Great Recession’s scope and impact was so widespread and corrosive that it has left millions of Americans permanently damaged financially, a new study finds.

The research from the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University found that five years after the country’s economic downturn started, 60 percent of U.S. residents think the nation’s economy has undergone a permanent change.

More than half of those surveyed think it will take at least six years for the economy to fully recover from the Great Recession, with 29 percent believing it will never hit the levels it reached before the recession.

‘After suffering through the worst economic disaster American workers have ever experienced, they are deeply pessimistic,’ said Rutgers professor Carl Van Horn. ‘Five years of economic misery have profoundly diminished Americans’ confidence in the economy and their outlook for the next generation.’

The study revealed just how impactful the economic recession was on American families. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed either lost a job themselves, or had a member of their household, close relative or friend lose a job at some point in the past four years.

Among those who did find themselves out of work, more […]