Across the pandemic-era United States, an uncertainty about the future has settled in and unemployed Americans are struggling to figure out what’s next. In this story by AP National Writer SCohenAP, hear about their lives and challenges.
James Jackson poses for a photograph outside his home during the coronavirus pandemic, Thursday, July 30, 2020, in West Park, Fla. Jackson is among the tens of thousands hospitality workers fighting for survival in the age of the pandemic. Jackson's employer, the Diplomat Beach Resort, in Hollywood, Fla., was forced to close in March because of the outbreak.
In recent congressional testimony, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell repeated his earlier warning: The strength of any recovery will rely on the nation’s ability to contain the virus. The outlook for the U.S. economy, he said, is “extraordinarily uncertain.” Vines was stunned when she was laid off in March from her sales job at a promotional product company. She’d worked there 20 years. “You think you’re going to be taken care of,” she says.
Saigh was eager to start over after being laid off in 2019 from a Detroit-area marketing company. After a half-year of searching for work, Saigh decided it would be cheaper to continue his quest from home. He moved in with his parents in Iron River, in Michigan’ s Upper Peninsula. Now, Saigh plans to do some photo and video freelance work as he tries to land another job. He’s adjusted to an economy where so much remains unknown.
Complicating the situation is Florida’s unemployment system, which has been marred by computer glitches and lengthy delays. Despite countless calls over the months, Jackson, 51, says he has yet to receive a single $275 weekly state unemployment check — even though his last day of work was March 21. That cap is among the stingiest in the nation.
He refuses to look too far ahead. “This is a day-to-day process,” he says, “and I can’t worry about the things I cannot change.”Last year, after tiring of being an educator, he gave up a job teaching French in a private school in suburban Milwaukee. He was recruited to become a bilingual software trainer, traveling to Canada three weeks a month. In the spring, he rushed back to the U.S. as the border was about to close.
“I feel like I don’t have very much of a purpose now,” she says. She feels as if she’s “floating around in life” as she searches for work, with her father helping retool her resume. She knows her job possibilities are limited because she can’t be exposed to large groups of people. For the past six months, Anderson, 37, has relied on state unemployment and $600-a-week pandemic-related federal benefits that just expired. In Washington, Democrats and Republicans are clashing over how much of that aid should continue and for how long.
“I see a lot of people blaming companies, saying, ‘How dare they lay off their employees!’” she says. “But those decisions have to be made.” In recent weeks, Kouskoulas says she senses the “quietness in the economy” that existed a few month ago has lifted and there are more opportunities. But she also worries some employers will be consolidating roles, producing fewer jobs with more responsibilities.“At the end of the day,” she says, “the only person who’s going to get me out of this is me.”Uncertainty ripples outward. There are so many things that, because of it, simply can’t be done.
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