This factor is also made clear in Pew Research Center surveys and analyses that show which Americans do or don’t own stocks, and how this dividing line has widened the wealth gap in the period since the recovery began to take hold in 2009.

A Pew Research survey in March found that 53% of Americans say they have no money at all invested in the stock market, including retirement accounts.

Broad majorities of those in households earning $75,000 a year or more (80%) and those with a college degree (77%) say they have money invested in the stock market. By contrast, just 15% of those earning less than $30,000 a year and 25% of those with no more than a high school diploma say they have money in the market.

However, while stock owners have seen the value of their investments rise, their views on the national economy remain gloomy and are no different than the views of non-stock owners.

Overall, 17% of stockholders rate the national economy as only fair or poor. Similarly, just 15% of those without money in the market rate the economy positively.

And owning stocks also has no impact on economic optimism. Just 23% of stock owners say the national economy will be better in a year, compared with 26% of those who do not own stocks.

Our March survey found that most Americans ranked the stock market last among six factors affecting their finances. Nearly two-thirds (64%) said gas prices had the greatest impact on their wallets, followed by prices for food and consumer goods (58%), the federal deficit (39%), the jobs situation (39%) and real estate values (32%). Only 23% cited the stock market as an important factor.

The demographic differences when it comes to which Americans have a big stake in the market – and the biggest difference is family income – have also been behind a growth in the so-called wealth gap since the end of the recession.

A Pew Research Center study in April found that the upper 7% of Americans as far as mean net worth saw their wealth rise an estimated 28% while the meant net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4% between 2009 and 2011.

Driving this was the fact that affluent households have far more of their money in stocks and other financial holdings, and they reaped the benefits of the rise in the markets. Less affluent households typically have their wealth concentrated in the value of their homes, and while the housing market has started to rebound, it did not see the kind of surge that the markets had.

This finding was underlined by a report issued this week by the Federal Reserve in a section analyzing “How Much Household Wealth Has Been Recovered,” (p. 14).

Of the total recovery, 62% of the gain was due to increased stock market wealth, the analysis said. “Stock wealth is unevenly held, with the vast majority of stocks owned by a relatively small number of wealthy families. Thus, most families have recovered much less than the average amount.”

“A conclusion that the financial damage of the crisis and recession largely has been repaired is not justified,” the report stated.

“It just points out how complex the tax code is and the discretion then that is in the hands of the IRS because of the complexity of the code,” Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told Bloomberg TV. “A more transparent, simpler, fairer code is clearly the goal.”

The problem is that while Americans increasingly see the tax system in need of repair, there is no consensus about its biggest shortcomings. In a 2011 survey, there were huge differences in views between the rich and poor, and Republicans and Democrats, over where to start.

A survey earlier this month, before the IRS reports surfaced, found an unusual level of public agreement that the tax system needs sweeping changes. Overall, 72% said the nation’s tax system either needs major changes (40%) or to be completely rebuilt (32%).  Just 26% said the system works pretty well or needs minor changes.

There’s a clear trend, too. The percentage saying the tax system needs at least major changes has risen 26 points since 2005, while the percentage saying it works pretty well has fallen 24 points. Most striking is that the rise among those who think the system needs major fixing has occurred across nearly all partisan and demographic groups.

Yet our major 2011 study of opinions about taxes found little agreement on a basic question: What bothers you most about taxes — the large amount you pay in taxes, the complexity of the current system, or the feeling that some wealthy people get away with not paying their fair share?

Surprisingly, relatively few people – just 11% – said their biggest complaint was the large amount they paid in taxes. Even among those with family incomes of $100,000 or more, only 17% said they were most bothered by how much they had to pay.

Rather, most people (57%) were bothered by what they saw as the system’s basic unfairness – “the feeling that some wealthy people get away with not paying their fair share.” Only about half as many – 28% – pointed to the tax system’s complexity.

This survey was conducted before this year’s fiscal cliff agreement, which raised taxes on most Americans and hit wealthy people with new, higher rates on income and investments. Still, it would take a major shift in attitudes for the public to say that the complexity of the tax system – and not its fundamental fairness – is the most bothersome thing about taxes.

Eurostat, the European statistical agency, announced today that the European Union’s annual inflation rate in April was 1.4%, down from a rate of 2.7% in April 2012. Nonetheless, across eight EU nations surveyed by the Pew Research Center in March 2013, a median of 67% said rising prices were a “very” big problem in their countries. As the European Central Bank contemplates interest rate cuts to stimulate economic growth in a euro area now in recession, such public worry about inflation only complicates their task.

As the International Monetary Fund noted in its Spring 2013 World Economic Outlook, inflation is the dog that hasn’t barked in the wake of the Great Recession. Despite unprecedented monetary easing through various conventional and unconventional measures by both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, prices in the European Union generally have been falling. In April, according to today’s Eurostat report, prices in Germany were rising by 1.1%, by 0.8% in France and by 1.5% in Spain.

Nevertheless, majorities in six of the eight countries see rising prices as a very big problem. The Greeks were the most worried: 94% say inflation is a major issue. But official statistics show that in March, when the survey was taken, Greek prices were actually falling at an annual rate of 0.2%; in April, according to Eurostat, consumer prices fell at a 0.6% annual rate.

Despite a national narrative widely propounded by German elites and government officials that the German psyche has been permanently scarred by the hyperinflation of the 1920s, rendering modern Germans inflation-phobic, only 31% of Germans think rising prices are a very big problem.

This relative lack of worry about inflation among Germans may be a sign that the European Central Bank, which has long been sensitive to German inflation concerns, has more room to maneuver than might otherwise have been thought, at least with the German public.

Bruce Stokes is director of global economic attitudes in the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project.

As the International Monetary Fund noted in its Spring 2013 World Economic Outlook, inflation is the dog that hasn’t barked in the wake of the Great Recession. Despite unprecedented monetary easing through various conventional and unconventional measures by both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, prices in the European Union generally have been falling. In April, according to today’s Eurostat report, prices in Germany were rising by 1.1%, by 0.8% in France and by 1.5% in Spain.

Nevertheless, majorities in six of the eight countries see rising prices as a very big problem. The Greeks were the most worried: 94% say inflation is a major issue. But official statistics show that in March, when the survey was taken, Greek prices were actually falling at an annual rate of 0.2%; in April, according to Eurostat, consumer prices fell at a 0.6% annual rate.

Despite a national narrative widely propounded by German elites and government officials that the German psyche has been permanently scarred by the hyperinflation of the 1920s, rendering modern Germans inflation-phobic, only 31% of Germans think rising prices are a very big problem.

This relative lack of worry about inflation among Germans may be a sign that the European Central Bank, which has long been sensitive to German inflation concerns, has more room to maneuver than might otherwise have been thought, at least with the German public.

Popularity is no protection against budget cuts: The parts of government that Americans like the most — state, cities and counties, and the U.S. Postal Service — are also the ones shedding workers the fastest.

The most recent nonfarm payroll figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the public sector continues to be a drag on overall employment. Governments at all levels have shed 835,300 jobs since public-sector employment peaked in April 2009 (not counting the spike in early 2010 caused by temporary Census workers). The private sector, meanwhile, has regained 6.78 million jobs since bottoming out in February 2010, and over the past year has averaged 180,500 new jobs a month.

But the government-sector job cuts haven’t been spread evenly. In terms of sheer numbers, local schools have lost the most: 336,300 jobs over the past four years. Other local government cutbacks have eliminated 217,600 jobs; states (except for public colleges and universities) are down 160,300 jobs.

In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March, 63% of people said they had a favorable opinion of their local government, a level that’s stayed fairly constant over several years; 57% expressed favorable views of their state government, a five-point uptick from last year. But  just 28% rated the federal government favorably, versus 65% unfavorably; the favorability rating was five points lower than a year earlier and the lowest ever in a Pew Research Center survey.

Notwithstanding the dim view most people take of the federal government, and despite the wide-ranging budget cuts known as “sequestration,” most of the federal payroll remains intact. Leaving aside one big exception, there were 20,000 fewer federal employees last month than there were four years earlier, a decline of less than 1%.

The exception is the long-suffering Postal Service, where employment is down by 132,300 jobs, or 18.3%, since April 2009. The Postal Service has been shedding workers for years, though the pace picked up during the recession; it accounts for 15.8% of all government job cuts since April 2009, even though it employed only 3.2% of the total government workforce.

Even so, the Postal Service is one of the better-regarded arms of the federal government. In a 2010 Pew Research survey, 83% of people said they had a favorable opinion of the Postal Service, the highest level among the 13 agencies asked about. More recently, 60% of respondents in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll said they had “very” (28%) or “somewhat” (32%) positive feelings toward the Postal Service — more than President Obama, either major party, the Catholic Church or the NRA.

The one government sector that’s actually added jobs has been state education, which is up 31,200 jobs (or 1.3%) since April 2009. Although many state legislatures have reduced funding for public colleges and universities over that time, tuition bills have risen sharply to compensate.

Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at the Pew Research Center.

The most recent nonfarm payroll figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the public sector continues to be a drag on overall employment. Governments at all levels have shed 835,300 jobs since public-sector employment peaked in April 2009 (not counting the spike in early 2010 caused by temporary Census workers). The private sector, meanwhile, has regained 6.78 million jobs since bottoming out in February 2010, and over the past year has averaged 180,500 new jobs a month.

But the government-sector job cuts haven’t been spread evenly. In terms of sheer numbers, local schools have lost the most: 336,300 jobs over the past four years. Other local government cutbacks have eliminated 217,600 jobs; states (except for public colleges and universities) are down 160,300 jobs.

In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March, 63% of people said they had a favorable opinion of their local government, a level that’s stayed fairly constant over several years; 57% expressed favorable views of their state government, a five-point uptick from last year. But  just 28% rated the federal government favorably, versus 65% unfavorably; the favorability rating was five points lower than a year earlier and the lowest ever in a Pew Research Center survey.

Notwithstanding the dim view most people take of the federal government, and despite the wide-ranging budget cuts known as “sequestration,” most of the federal payroll remains intact. Leaving aside one big exception, there were 20,000 fewer federal employees last month than there were four years earlier, a decline of less than 1%.

The exception is the long-suffering Postal Service, where employment is down by 132,300 jobs, or 18.3%, since April 2009. The Postal Service has been shedding workers for years, though the pace picked up during the recession; it accounts for 15.8% of all government job cuts since April 2009, even though it employed only 3.2% of the total government workforce.

Even so, the Postal Service is one of the better-regarded arms of the federal government. In a 2010 Pew Research survey, 83% of people said they had a favorable opinion of the Postal Service, the highest level among the 13 agencies asked about. More recently, 60% of respondents in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll said they had “very” (28%) or “somewhat” (32%) positive feelings toward the Postal Service — more than President Obama, either major party, the Catholic Church or the NRA.

The one government sector that’s actually added jobs has been state education, which is up 31,200 jobs (or 1.3%) since April 2009. Although many state legislatures have reduced funding for public colleges and universities over that time, tuition bills have risen sharply to compensate.

Despite an extended period of economic difficulty, Pew Research Center pollsters Andrew Kohut and Michael Dimock show that Americans’ core values and beliefs about economic opportunity, and the nation’s economic outlook, remain largely optimistic and unchanged. There is also little evidence that economic class is becoming a greater factor in shaping American values than in the past. Americans are certain that the nation can solve its problems, that hard work ultimately pays off, and that income divides are an acceptable part of a healthy economy. But they increasingly see a lack of fairness in public policies that are failing to promote economic opportunity.

Download the full paper published by the Council on Foreign Relations.