Unemployment Stories

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Unemployment Stories
Thu, 10-08-2009 - 9:10am
These are 3 of several unemployed people CNN spotlighted in an article they did recently.  What is going to become of the hundreds of thousands of out of work Americans? Many are overqualified for menial jobs; and even those jobs are getting harder to come by. 

 

And none of us is immune. I've worked in the same place for almost 10 years. I've never seen anyone "fired" until just recently when 2 employees have been terminated in the last 2 months.  One of the positions has been eliminated, the other may or may not be filled.

 

It's frightening and worrisome, especially for those of us who are in our 50's and 60's. What's going to happen to us as we get older? There is no feeling of security for anyone anymore. And what of our children? Will there be jobs for them?

 

We need to get jobs back in America immediately. We can't continue on the trend of so many people unemployed and underemployed.

 

 

 

 

 

Unemployed since: August 2008

Benefits expired: Multiple times

Full-time employment: No

Filed in: Tennessee

Age: 54

I used to be a road warrior. I worked for a contract management company, where I jumped from city to city on federal projects.

Contractor work always stops and starts, so when my last project ended in August, I wasn't too worried. I got the maximum $250 unemployment check per week, so I said, hey, all right. At the time, Tennessee's regular benefits lasted 13 weeks.

Eventually ... I don't know, you just start to realize something's different this time, you know? Then all the stuff with the banks happened. Everything was falling apart. Unemployment checks came, then they stopped. Then they came again. I don't even know how many weeks I've gotten in total. It's like a rollercoaster.

I ended up applying for food stamps, which was really difficult. I just sat in the office and cried and cried. I recently got another 13 weeks of unemployment, which is great. But it also means I can't get food stamps anymore.

I've now sent more than 1,000 job applications nationwide and even overseas. It seems with so many out of work, employers can choose from the cream of the crop. I just don't know where that leaves me.


 


Unemployed since: April 2008

Benefits expired: October 2008

Full-time employment: No

Filed in: California

Age: 63

I'd run out of jobless insurance for the second time in a few years last October. I was first laid off in 2006, and it took me until February 2008 to find another job in technical sales -- it lasted only two months. When I turned 63, I applied for Social Security. Every penny of it goes to house payments. It would have been ideal to wait until I was 65, but that wasn't an option.


 


Unemployed since: April 2008

Benefits expired: February 2009

Full-time employment: No

Filed in: Virginia

Age: 38

I was laid off from my job as an executive assistant in April 2008, a day before I was scheduled to have major surgery. Everything fell apart. My two kids had to move in with their dad full-time. It was very stressful.


My benefits ran out last February, and I was lucky to get two part-time jobs. But combined they don't pay as much as my unemployment check, and I sometimes commute 100 miles a day. Neither job guarantees my hours per week.


 

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