A new study shows Georgia is one of the worst states in the union when it comes to economic insecurity. It suggests the impact from the Great Recession is both worse and longer-lasting than we might have thought.

Laid off two years ago, "Steve" might have written the book on economic insecurity.

"For almost two years, I worked three part-time jobs and I wasn't making anywhere near what I was in my full-time job," he said. He "robbed Peter to pay Paul," selecting which bills to pay because he couldn't pay them all.

"I'm 38-years old," he said. "This is the hardest it's been in my adult life."

Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker's new study shows one in four Georgians have suffered the same sort of economic trauma.

"These kinds of large economic dislocations can have lasting effects," Hacker said.

Steve, who lives in Atlanta, is now working full-time again, but at only two-thirds his original salary level. He's still struggling to pay off the bills he accumulated while out of work. It's a struggle that will mar his credit report for years to come.

The Economic Security Index (ESI) devised by Dr. Hacker showed economic insecurity rose by 57 percent in Georgia between 1986 and 2010, reflecting a broader national decline in economic security over the last generation. Since the ESI is simply the proportion of those who experience a 25 percent drop in available household income, it is easily translated into estimates of the number of those who experience large losses. In 2010, roughly 1.7 million individuals in Georgia experienced a 25 percent drop or greater, compared with 623,000 in 1986, reflecting higher insecurity as well as a larger state population.

In addition to macroeconomic trends, the Georgia ESI may have been higher than the national average during the recession as a result of higher concentrations of individuals known to have higher exposure to economic risk at the national level. For example, large losses are more prevalent among individuals who reside in a household headed by someone who has less than a college degree, is Black or Hispanic, or is a single parent.

"Economic Insecurity Across the American States" shows that while nearly every state experienced record insecurity during 2008-2010, all states experienced a significant rise in insecurity between 1986 and 2010. This trend began long before the recent downturn, as every state had higher average insecurity between 1997 and 2007 than between 1986 and 1996. In other words, American households were becoming more vulnerable to large losses in income even before the Great Recession.