The United States at 250: How the Country Has Changed in the Past 50 Years
Ahead of the nation’s birthday, Pew Research Center identified some prominent trends across key areas of American life: demographics, work, family and economics.
Economy & Work
A Year Into Trump’s Second Term, Americans’ Views of the Economy Remain Negative
Most Americans continue to hold negative views of the U.S. economy, as has been the case for the last six years.
About 1 in 5 U.S. workers now use AI in their job, up since last year
Workers younger than 50 and workers with a bachelor’s degree or more education are among the most likely to use AI in their job.
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The pace of Boomer retirements has accelerated in the past year
In the third quarter of 2020, about 28.6 million Baby Boomers reported that they were out of the labor force due to retirement.
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Nearly 2,800 newspaper companies received paycheck protection loans, and most were under $150K
Though this figure is a sliver of all PPP loans lent out to small businesses as of August, it represents a large segment of U.S. newspaper companies.
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Fewer mothers and fathers in U.S. are working due to COVID-19 downturn; those at work have cut hours
The shares of mothers and fathers who are working have fallen from 2019 to 2020, but the falloff has been comparable for each group.
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In U.S. and UK, Globalization Leaves Some Feeling ‘Left Behind’ or ‘Swept Up’
Focus groups held across the two nations reveal the degree to which Americans and Britons see common challenges to local and national identity.
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Economic Fallout From COVID-19 Continues To Hit Lower-Income Americans the Hardest
Half of adults who say they lost a job due to the coronavirus outbreak are still unemployed.
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In many countries, people are more negative about the economy amid COVID-19 than during Great Recession
A median of 80% across 10 countries now say their country’s economy is faring badly, compared with a median of 72% who said this in 2008-2009.
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Americans’ Views of Government: Low Trust, but Some Positive Performance Ratings
For years, public trust in the federal government has hovered at near-record lows. That remains the case today, as the United States struggles with a pandemic and economic recession.
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59% of U.S. parents with lower incomes say their child may face digital obstacles in schoolwork
38% of parents with children whose K-12 schools closed in the spring said that their child was likely to face digital obstacles in schoolwork.
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Despite Pandemic, Many Europeans Still See Climate Change as Greatest Threat to Their Countries
The spread of infectious diseases is the top concern in the U.S., UK, Japan and South Korea as global economic concerns grow.
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Views of the economy have turned sharply negative in many countries amid COVID-19
Assessments of national economies have seen swift downturns in many countries, and few see improvements anytime soon.
