Nearly A Third Of Americans Say They Haven't Recovered From The Recession

Happy days are here again! Right, guys?

On Friday, the Labor Department is expected to release another round of encouraging numbers about the job market. Meanwhile, stocks are at record highs -- in fact, the Nasdaq just reached a level last seen during the tech boom of 2000.

And yet, nearly one-third of Americans still haven’t recovered from the Great Recession.

Thirty percent of those surveyed in a study released by the Pew Research Center on Wednesday said that the recession had a major impact on their finances, and that their finances have not yet recovered. (About the same percentage said their finances had recovered from the recession.)

The lower down the economic ladder you look, the worse the picture gets. Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed with family incomes of less than $30,000 said their finances haven’t yet recovered.

Only 14 percent of those with family incomes above $100,000 said that their incomes have yet to recover from the recession, which by the way ended in June 2009 -- almost SIX YEARS AGO.