Most Americans believe today's children will be poorer than their parents, Pew finds

• The economy might finally be rebounding from the pandemic, but not for everyone.
• A new Pew Research Center survey found that respondents think kids will be worse off than their parents.
• Younger workers have already been hit by at least one recession and a pandemic.

The economy might be picking up, and people are growing a tad more optimistic, but many still think economic wounds will have a long-lasting impact.

A new Pew Research Center survey found that across 17 publics including the US a majority of respondents think kids will be financially worse off than their parents. Across everyone surveyed, a median of 64% were pessimistic about childrens' financial futures.

That number was higher for US respondents, with 68% saying they think that kids will be financially worse off. However, respondents in France and Japan were even more concerned, with 77% of respondents in both countries saying that they think kids will be financially worse off.

Another generational wealth gap

As Insider's Hillary Hoffower previously reported, there's already a wealth gap between boomers and millennials. The older generation has benefited from everything from low interest rates to investments in companies that bolster pollution - a problem that will exacerbate the climate crisis and its strain on the younger generation.

That's on top of the Great Recession already leaving millennials behind when it comes to wealth accumulation; as Insider's Hillary Hoffower reported, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that millennials earned 34% less than they would have had there been no recession.

Plus, the past year has brought yet another recession. This time, younger workers were again pummeled. According to a report from the International Labour Organization, workers ages 15-24 saw employment losses of 8.7%; among adults, employment loss was broadly 3.7%. That report warned that Gen Z, which has dealt with education cut short by the pandemic and a recession during their entry to workforce, was at risk of becoming a "lost generation."

As Insider's Hillary Hoffower reported, Gen Z was the most unemployed generation in the wake of pandemic's economic devastation. However, some hope may be on the horizon: Gen Z will still take over the economy in a decade, Hoffower reported, despite the pandemic potentially making them lose out on $10 trillion in earnings.

On the whole, a median 52% of respondents in the Pew survey - and 71% in the US - still think that the current economic situation is bad. In New Zealand and Australia, respondents were more optimistic, with over 70% of respondents in both answering that the economic situation is good.