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
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More openings and hires give Americans reason for greater job optimism
As openings and new hires hit levels not seen in years, more Americans say they’re hearing mostly good news about the jobs situation.
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About the Survey
The analysis in this report is based on telephone interviews conducted February 5-8, 2015 among a national sample of 1,003 adults, 18 years of age or older, living in the continental United States (501 respondents were interviewed on a landline telephone, and 502 were interviewed on a cell phone, including 300 who had no landline […]
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Views of Job News Turn Much More Positive Over Past Year
Survey Report For the first time since the end of the recession in 2009, a greater share of the public is hearing mostly good news (28%) than bad news (22%) about the job situation. Nearly half (47%) say they are hearing a mix of good and bad news. This marks a stark change from a […]
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U.S. and European Millennials differ on their views of fate, future
A majority of younger Europeans don’t feel that they can impact the world around them or their future, a stark contrast with their American counterparts.
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Who are Europe’s Millennials?
What the dwindling youthful population of Europe believes and how their views differ from their aging and far more numerous elders may go a long way toward determining Europe’s fate.
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Four signs of the improving U.S. jobs situation
The unemployment rate may get most of the attention, but why people are unemployed, and how long they’ve been out of work, can be just as telling about the state of the economy.
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America’s ‘middle’ holds its ground after the Great Recession
The share of Americans who live in middle-income households has held steady since 2010 – a flat trend that might actually be good news.
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NASA popularity still sky-high
NASA continues to be very popular among the public, with four times as many Americans holding a favorable view of the space agency as unfavorable (68% vs. 17%).
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Is Europe on board for a new trade deal with the U.S.?
Overall, recent surveys in both the U.S. and the 28-member EU suggest there is widespread support for a deeper transatlantic trade and investment relationship in most EU countries and among publics representing most of the European population, economy and exports to the U.S.
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Budget deficit dropping, but public still concerned
While the $467.5 billion deficit projection for fiscal 2015 is the lowest since 2007, the nonpartisan agency predicts higher deficits in the years to come. Meanwhile, the public’s concerns about reducing the deficit have varied over the past two decades, according to the Pew Research Center’s annual policy priorities surveys.
