As difficult as the last two years have been on your finances, you’ve probably saved a lot more for retirement than your fellow workers.

How is that possible? Because it’s all relative. The Employee Benefit Research Institute’s most recent annual survey of U.S. workers and their retirement savings reveals that the percentage of workers having fewer than $10,000 in savings stands at 43%. That’s up from 39% in 2009.

Even more ominous, the percentage of workers who reported they have less than $1,000 in savings is 27% — significantly more than the 20% reported in 2009.

The EBRI’s definition of retirement savings excludes the value of primary homes and defined-benefit pension plans. Still, these are startling figures, showing that large numbers of Americans have little if anything in the way of a savings safety net.

It’s true that some people have plowed their savings into the purchase of a home. But these “house poor” individuals are often among the first who face mortgage foreclosures upon the loss of a job, because they have so few cash resources upon which to fall back.

If there is a glimmer of good news in these dreary statistics, it’s that more people are awakening to the reality of their finances. Gone is the notion that Social Security will pay enough for a decent retirement lifestyle. Indeed, less than 20% of respondents expressed confidence in their ability to save enough for a comfortable retirement. That’s the second lowest reading ever recorded in the 20-year history of the EBRI’s annual survey.

Only ~45% of workers with some form of savings have more than $25,000 stashed away … and people know that $25,000 is not nearly enough for retirement, Social Security payments being what they are. Consequently, in the 2010 EBRI survey, one in four workers report that they’ve decided to postpone their retirements (that’s up from ~15% saying so in the 2009 EBRI research).

For its survey, the Employee Benefit Research Institute queried ~1,150 U.S. workers (age 25 and older) plus retirees, making it one of the most comprehensive field studies on the topic of U.S. retirement savings. There’s a wealth of additional statistics and insights available here.