The stock market is improving and unemployment has slowed, but Americans report they are still feeling the recession's pain.
>>
Speaker: It's been one year since the investment bank, the Lehman Brothers, collapsed, sending the Stock Market into freefall, and investors into a tailspin. Experts declare that Wall Street is on the road to recovery, but that same optimism is hard to find on Main Street.
>>
Speaker: It's been hard. Right now, I'm unemployed.
>>
Speaker: Jobs are a little scarce. Not a little, they're a lot scarce.
>>
Speaker: I'm feeling it. I mean, when I shop for food, when I pay my bills like rent, cable. I was struggling the other day just to get my cable bill paid.
>>
Speaker: First of all, I got a 12.5 percent reduction on my salary, and it's affecting me a lot. I can't do the things I used to do. I bought a brand new car last year and barely can make the payments on it.
>>
Speaker: Individuals who report not being touched personally by the recession see signs that the economy is improving.
>>
Speaker: Oh, yeah, it's getting better. Sure. You know, the market's coming back. It's gonna come back strong. Yeah.
>>
Speaker: My friends who are in real estate are starting to see things sell now. My friends that are -- have been looking for a job are starting to get a lot more interviews now.
>>
Speaker: The Stock Market is starting to, you know, take an upswing, and commodities futures are going higher. So hopefully, that will be the start of it, and people will get out there spending. And it will -- I guess it will be okay sometime soon.
>>
Speaker: But for those still struggling, recovery seems far away.
>>
Speaker: There's no such thing as a jobless recovery because it's not a real recovery. It's a recovery for the economists. It's a recovery for Wall Street. It's not a recovery for people.
>>
Speaker: There are more people getting laid off. There's no jobs. I see it every day.
>>
Speaker: They say that it's getting better, but how?
>>
Speaker: I'm letting you know right now, as somebody that work every day, I don't see a change. But it takes time. I guess, gradually, maybe I would, but right now, no. I don't see it. Do you see it?
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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====
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