Half of Americans Are Worried that a Major Recession is Coming: Survey
Half of Americans say that they are concerned a major recession is around the corner, according to a survey released by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America on Wednesday.
The survey found that recession concerns have risen 4 percentage points since the first quarter of the year. Millennials indicated the most concern about a looming recession or market crash, the survey said. Fifty-six percent of millennials indicated they were concerned about the recession, while 51 percent of respondents in the Generation X age group did and 46 percent of Baby Boomers did.
The survey results add to the growing body of evidence showing Americans are increasingly concerned about a looming recession.
A Gallup poll released in late September found that 49 percent of Americans thought a recession will come within the next year. That figure is higher than the level of concern expressed before the 2007 recession. Persisting trade tensions, which have led to predictions of slowing global growth from international organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, have contributed to consumers' worries.
The fears aren't shocking considering the duration of the economic recovery, BMO Financial Group Chief Economist Doug Porter told Newsweek.
"Given that this is already the longest U.S. economic expansion on record at more than 10 years, it's not surprising that many Americans are increasingly concerned about the prospects of a recession. Piling on, there are concerns about the U.S.-China trade war, an inverted yield curve, and volatile financial markets in the past year," Porter said.
Economists are also growing more worried about declining growth. A survey released Monday from the National Associate for Business Economics found that 80 percent of economists think that the economy will slow further. Twenty-four percent think that a recession will start by mid-2020, and 69 percent think one will begin by mid-2021.
In spite of the growing fear of a looming recession, Americans are currently saving in a manner that has worried economists. A September survey from consumer finance company Bankrate found that just 29 percent of Americans were focused on accumulating savings. And a Bankrate poll released in June said that only 18 percent of Americans have enough emergency savings to cover six months of expenses.
Respondents to the Allianz survey said they weren't as concerned with protecting retirement savings from market losses as they were last quarter. Sixty-six percent said protecting some retirement savings was important, a 6 percentage point drop from the second quarter of the year.
"On the surface, it might appear to be good news that less people seem concerned about protecting their retirement savings from loss," Kelly LaVigne, the vice president of Advanced Markets, Allianz Life, said in a press release. "However, this ongoing market volatility needs to serve as a wake-up call that protecting retirement assets is important as we don't know what the market will throw at us in the coming months and years ahead."
This article has been updated to include comment from Doug Porter.
