AMERICANS STRUGGLING...EVEN AFTER 5 YEARS OF RECESSION

Not quite an American dream! Many Americans are struggling financially more than five years after the recession with a quarter of the families saying they were "just getting by", according to US Federal Reserve data. As of September 2013, when the central bank conducted the poll, a quarter of families said they were "just getting by," while an additional 13 per cent struggling to make ends meet. Asked to compare their current financial situation with how they were faring five years ago, as the housing crash was wreaking havoc on the economy, 34 per cent of respondents said they were doing "somewhat or much worse" than in 2008. The same percentage reported essentially treading water, while 30 per cent said they were doing better. "Given that respondents were being asked to compare their incomes to 2008, when the United States was in the depths of the financial crisis, the fact that over two-thirds of respondents reported being the same or worse off financially highlights the uneven nature of the recovery," the Federal Reserve said in the report. The Fed found that more than 60 per cent of US families were either "doing OK" or "living comfortably", CBS News reported. The survey of 4,100 households was conducted between September and October of last year. Since then, economic growth has been inconsistent. The nation's GDP shrank 2.1 per cent over the first three months of the year, when harsh winter weather slowed consumer spending and dented the housing sector. But GDP surged to an annualised 4 per cent between April and June, while the job market has strengthened in recent months. Americans' biggest financial concerns centered on three issues, the Fed found: retirement, education and jobs. And even with the economy seemingly on the mend, other findings from the Fed survey highlight the financial challenges many Americans still face. For instance, a third of households who had applied for credit in the previous 12 months reported being turned down or getting less than they asked for. Meanwhile, 10 per cent of households said their income fluctuates significantly from month to month, largely because of an irregular work schedule or because respondents are unemployed. Wage growth has been soft throughout the recovery, which officially began in June 2009. That has strained household budgets and damped consumer spending, slowing the pace of recovery. The Great Recession was a global economic decline in the late 2000s decade. The effects of this economic downturn are having a continued influence into 2014.