Retirement planning looks as daunting as ever, according to a new survey. Although the stock market has rebounded, only 14 percent of Americans, a historic low, are very confident their savings and retirement planning will be adequate.

A ruthless job market, suffocating household debt and a shocking decline in the stock market have left millions of Americans feeling fragile and with little confidence they will ever have the money toretire.

Retirementconfidence is at a historic low: Only 14 percent of Americans are very confident that they will be able toretirewith adequate money, according to research released Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. About 60 percent of workers say their household savings and investments total less than $25,000.

EBRI has been surveyingretirementconfidence for 22 years, and the number hasn't improved since 2009. That's when about 17 percent of workers were unemployed or underemployed, and when a 57 percent decline in the stock market left workplace 401(k)retirementsavings accounts in ruins. Confidence hasn't snapped back despite improving employment numbers and a 110 percent climb in the stock market since the devastation of the 2008-2009 crash.

"We were quite shocked," said EBRI research director Jack VanDerhei. He had assumed people would be more optimistic after "a fairly decent rebound" in the stock market and economy in 2010.

On the other hand, behavioral research shows that sharp losses can leave people feeling vulnerable for years. Even teens who watch families struggle through recessions doubt their control over their careers, said Antonio Spilimbergo and Paola Giuliano in a National Bureau of Economic Research paper.

EBRI also found that many people don't trust their jobs or investments to provide the money they will need for retirement. Fewer than 3 in 10 are very confident that they will have paid employment for as long as they need it. And 42 percent identify job uncertainty as an immediate concern. Only 16 percent are very confident that their investments will grow, and a mere 8 percent of workers are very confident the economy will grow at least 3 percent a year for the next 10 years.

Debt continues its stranglehold on households. Almost two-thirds of workers consider their current level of debt to be a problem.

Under the pressures of the past few years, many have used up savings, and fewer people are stashing anything away. In the recent EBRI survey, 58 percent said either they or a spouse was saving money for retirement. That's significantly less than 2009, when 65 percent were saving.

"Workers are falling further behind, and they know it," said Mathew Greenwald of Mathew Greenwald & Associates, who worked on the study with EBRI. About 67 percent say they are "behind schedule" with saving.

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Retirement planning: Stocks rebound, not confidence