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For Many, Uncertainty, Fear and Shame Often Follow Pink Slips
By MICHAEL LUO
From Allotting Help to Seeking It Out
In the last year, Evan Gutierrez, 29, has gone from administering a church’s good-will fund to applying to one so his family could pay the rent as he continued to look for work.
He had been working at a church and community center in Los Angeles, where he was the music director. He also helped dispense money for the church’s crisis fund. He was forced to leave in December 2008 when the organization’s endowment shrank precipitously in the stock market collapse. He was hired shortly afterward as a music teacher at a charter school, but it suddenly folded in March because of cutbacks in financing.
His wife, who teaches at a Catholic school, recently gave birth to their first child, a son.
But they had already been forced to move to a smaller, 500-square-foot apartment earlier this year, and they have since exhausted their savings. They have borrowed money from family and received $500 from a church in July after falling behind on their rent.
Mr. Gutierrez said he had papered the city with résumés but found that he could not land even menial work because he was considered overqualified.
“We grow up with the impression there’s a correlation between effort and the fruits of your labor,” he said. “To be honest with you, I have very little confidence I’m going to be able to turn this around. It just feels completely, completely out of my control.”
Safety Net Thins as Search Persists
Debra Winchell, 50, is single with no siblings, and her mother lives in an apartment complex for the elderly. The combination leaves her feeling especially vulnerable as her quest for work persists.
“I have no place to go if things fall through,” she said.
Ms. Winchell, of Latham, N.Y., was laid off in January — the day after President Obama’s inauguration, she recalls — as an administrative assistant in an information technology department at a health insurance company.
She had been with the company nine years and had just volunteered to work the previous Saturday, the day a software project that her department had worked on was being tested. But the company decided to restructure to save costs.
“I was summoned downstairs and told my position was eliminated and told I had to leave right then,” she said.
She had just begun to dig out from filing for bankruptcy the year before, when she had fallen behind on credit card payments after some unexpectedly large bills.
In two previous layoffs, she was always able to find temporary jobs until she landed work again. But this time, because of some health issues with allergies and medications she needs, she is focused on finding a full-time job with benefits.
Now she worries that the subsidy she has been receiving from the government to help pay for her health insurance premiums is about to expire.
“You just get anxious and fearful,” she said. “Some days, you just don’t feel right because there’s this big cloud of uncertainty.”
'Slow the Bleeding' by Lowering Sights
Lee Daves, 54, is coming to the end of his unemployment benefits and is not sure what he will do next.
“I’m going to find something soon,” he said. “I have to. It may not be what I want. If I have to wash dishes, that’s what I’ll do. Hopefully I can do better than that.”
Mr. Daves, of Springfield, Mo., was laid off in January from a small glass company where he operated a machine that created bevels on mirrors. He lived fairly frugally, owning a mobile home and paying rent only for the lot.
But his unemployment benefits still failed to cover his expenses. He was forced to liquidate a meager 401(k) retirement account and believes he has enough savings to last a few more months.
His old job paid $13 an hour. He has lowered his sights to anything that pays around $9 an hour, which would almost equal his unemployment benefits. But once he exhausts his benefits, he said, he will have to resort to finding something that pays the minimum wage.
“I have a lot of confidence that I can find something that will at least slow the bleeding,” he said.
He has had trouble sleeping because of the stress, saying he is “generally in a depressed state.” He gets some health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, but he has had to neglect things like dental work and figures he will probably need to have some teeth removed when — make that if — he gets a job with benefits again.
The Unemployed Poll:
taken money out of savings, retirement fund 60%
borrowed money from friends and family 53%
more stressed than usual 69%
trouble sleeping 55%
anxiety, depression 48%
embarrassed or ashamed 46%
cut back on medical care 54%
no health care 47%
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/us...le.html?ref=us
From Allotting Help to Seeking It Out
In the last year, Evan Gutierrez, 29, has gone from administering a church’s good-will fund to applying to one so his family could pay the rent as he continued to look for work.
He had been working at a church and community center in Los Angeles, where he was the music director. He also helped dispense money for the church’s crisis fund. He was forced to leave in December 2008 when the organization’s endowment shrank precipitously in the stock market collapse. He was hired shortly afterward as a music teacher at a charter school, but it suddenly folded in March because of cutbacks in financing.
His wife, who teaches at a Catholic school, recently gave birth to their first child, a son.
But they had already been forced to move to a smaller, 500-square-foot apartment earlier this year, and they have since exhausted their savings. They have borrowed money from family and received $500 from a church in July after falling behind on their rent.
Mr. Gutierrez said he had papered the city with résumés but found that he could not land even menial work because he was considered overqualified.
“We grow up with the impression there’s a correlation between effort and the fruits of your labor,” he said. “To be honest with you, I have very little confidence I’m going to be able to turn this around. It just feels completely, completely out of my control.”
Safety Net Thins as Search Persists
Debra Winchell, 50, is single with no siblings, and her mother lives in an apartment complex for the elderly. The combination leaves her feeling especially vulnerable as her quest for work persists.
“I have no place to go if things fall through,” she said.
Ms. Winchell, of Latham, N.Y., was laid off in January — the day after President Obama’s inauguration, she recalls — as an administrative assistant in an information technology department at a health insurance company.
She had been with the company nine years and had just volunteered to work the previous Saturday, the day a software project that her department had worked on was being tested. But the company decided to restructure to save costs.
“I was summoned downstairs and told my position was eliminated and told I had to leave right then,” she said.
She had just begun to dig out from filing for bankruptcy the year before, when she had fallen behind on credit card payments after some unexpectedly large bills.
In two previous layoffs, she was always able to find temporary jobs until she landed work again. But this time, because of some health issues with allergies and medications she needs, she is focused on finding a full-time job with benefits.
Now she worries that the subsidy she has been receiving from the government to help pay for her health insurance premiums is about to expire.
“You just get anxious and fearful,” she said. “Some days, you just don’t feel right because there’s this big cloud of uncertainty.”
'Slow the Bleeding' by Lowering Sights
Lee Daves, 54, is coming to the end of his unemployment benefits and is not sure what he will do next.
“I’m going to find something soon,” he said. “I have to. It may not be what I want. If I have to wash dishes, that’s what I’ll do. Hopefully I can do better than that.”
Mr. Daves, of Springfield, Mo., was laid off in January from a small glass company where he operated a machine that created bevels on mirrors. He lived fairly frugally, owning a mobile home and paying rent only for the lot.
But his unemployment benefits still failed to cover his expenses. He was forced to liquidate a meager 401(k) retirement account and believes he has enough savings to last a few more months.
His old job paid $13 an hour. He has lowered his sights to anything that pays around $9 an hour, which would almost equal his unemployment benefits. But once he exhausts his benefits, he said, he will have to resort to finding something that pays the minimum wage.
“I have a lot of confidence that I can find something that will at least slow the bleeding,” he said.
He has had trouble sleeping because of the stress, saying he is “generally in a depressed state.” He gets some health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, but he has had to neglect things like dental work and figures he will probably need to have some teeth removed when — make that if — he gets a job with benefits again.
The Unemployed Poll:
taken money out of savings, retirement fund 60%
borrowed money from friends and family 53%
more stressed than usual 69%
trouble sleeping 55%
anxiety, depression 48%
embarrassed or ashamed 46%
cut back on medical care 54%
no health care 47%
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/us...le.html?ref=us
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