Question, just curious.

[Leontine78]

I am watching dr. phil as we speak and it's all about the crisis.
I wonder: what happens to you when you lose your job and you are not to blame. Reoganisations and stuff?
In holland we get an unemployment fee from the goverment for two years. It is about 70% of your last income.

Everyone in the show is so afraid to lose their house and stuff. I wouldn't be happy but I am not losing my house if I lose my job.

 

[LeeAndra]

It's really rough when that happens here.

I had a seasonal job from November 2008 - May 2009. At that point, the job ended. I did collect unemployment (the highest in my state at the time was abt $350 a week) for a few months, and there's an elaborate process to do so with a lot of keeping track of the jobs where you are applying for work (a requirement to collect the unemployment), but it's all kept track of online. Trying to get a face-to-face appointment with a 'career counselor' was difficult as best since so many people were out of work at the same time I was.

That's it. We fell right in the gap between all the other social service benefits. We qualified for Medicaid when I was pg with my daughter since DH's job did not offer insurance but only when I was pg and during her first year; everything else, like food stamps, DH made 'too much' at his job (where he worked PT for $8.50/hour) for us to qualify for anything else.

We would have starved to death and been living on the streets if it hadn't been for our parents.

Once my unemployment ran out, DH found some temporary work, but that's all we had for another full year after that. I finally got a FT job, after 2.5 years of unemployment, 2 months ago, and DH is still working PT, but with a little better pay.

 

[LJSDesigns]

When this happened to me three years ago, I got 8 weeks severence and was then eligible for unemployment, but it was no where near 70% of what I had been making. I also lost all my insurance benefits and as someone with medical issues, I needed another job fast. It did take me 9 weeks to find something new and I did take a big pay cut, but I got insurance right away.

I was scared to death I would lose my home too, but I am pretty frugal and always lived well with in my means and don't have a lot of debt, so the insurance was my biggest and most pressing concern. That and feeding my family. That my son was getting ready to go to college sure didn't help and we couldn't get any aid because it was based on my previous income.

Three years later, I am still not making what I was, but I am okay financially, so I am pretty happy and grateful. I know others who are still struggling in a huge way.

 

[ripal]

I was there just last year. However, my situation was a bit different. My 3-yr contract with my job was about to expire. I had known it more than a year in advance, so I was mentally prepared for it. I believe that is half the battle. My contract was expiring on 3/11/11. I got the call in first week of February, after 5 PM, when I would've left from work that they're cutting my job. At first, I was confused and told my agency that I've already known that for over a year and why are they making a big fuss about it. Then, they told me that my last day is 2/28 rather than 3/11. Next day I realized that they got rid of our entire department because they had run out of funds. 2/28 was the last day for everyone that I was working with!!!

Until this happened, I wasn't too concerned about my job loss. The way it works with my job is, I had to stay out of the company for 6 months, then they would be able to offer me the job back (if they had funding and had job opening). With summer coming up, I was more than happy to spend my time with kids in summer break and go back to work just when school started. With whole department getting chopped off, it changed the entire picture for me. My boss wasn't allowed to share anything. I had only missed out by loosing my job 11 days early, but felt really bad for rest of my team who were supposed to be there for lot longer!

Five minutes before it was my time to leave my job, my boss told me that I would get called back after six months because I just had too much knowledge about our project. So, I was able to leave from there on happy note. I didn't care to look for a new job while I was home mainly because of kids (I've never been home with them since they're born) and FIL was going thru cancer treatment at the time and I was needed at home.

While I was out, I did get unemployment, but it was barely enough to pay my rent. Luckily, I had some savings and tax return was coming up. I didn't have any car payments or any other payments(no other debt). I lived very very frugal in those six months! I'm still amazed at how we survived those months without creating new debt or asking family for help.

This is the time I also sent my daughter to college and we had to buy her stuff for her dorm. All kids had chipped in from their birthday/gift money to help her shop. I paid them back as soon as I got my first paycheck. My boss had contacted me a month before my 6-months were up to see if I'm still interested in coming back. She had been my FB friend, so I'm sure that she knew I didn't start working yet.

This time around, as soon as I got the job, I started following Dave Ramsey's plan. It turns out that I've lived my life by the guidelines he's been giving, I just didn't know he existed. But I like the 'system' he has to do things in order. So, right now, my goal is to get enough fund in my savings to equal the expense of 6 months. So that if this happens again, I don't have to stress about the monthly bills.

It really is scary when the job is lost, if you aren't prepared well in advance.

 

[Nettio]

Wow, 70% is amazing! We definitely don't get anything like that here. Some companies will offer severance packages for layoffs but government unemployment varies by state and I think the max where I'm from was like $450 a week or less for 26 weeks, which if you'd been making any kind of decent wage isn't probably going to cover your bills, let alone a mortgage payment. Plus you have to pay for medical insurance/bills, etc on top of that since all of those benefits are tied to your job.

I think the other issue is with the housing crisis, a lot of people who've lost their jobs are also stuck with homes they can't afford but can't sell either. In a normal housing market, you would usually have the option to sell/downsize or relocate to an area with better jobs if you were laid off but with the housing market the way it is, a lot of people are stuck.

 

[Julie Billingsley]

My husband was unemployed for several months when the entire company closed suddenly because of the economy. He was on unemployment and got only about 35% of his normal pay. We had some savings and ended up living off of that until he got a job. Sadly, the job he got doesn't pay what his old job paid, and despite his efforts he can't find a better paying job. It's super tough for those that lose their jobs and the effects can be so long lasting even after you find a new job.

 

[ColleenSwerb]

It's pretty much a mess over here.
I got laid off last August and it was completely out of the blue. I qualified/still qualify for unemployment at about 40% of my old job, if I'm lucky (I made really good money for my age). Thankfully, DH is still employed and pushed for an got a really nice raise at the start of the year. I have to make a certain number of job searches/applications every week, and in the 9 months I've been out of work I have not heard back on a single.solitary.one. It's ridiculous.
Thankfully we've never lived beyond our means, my husband is really strict about money like that (THANK GOODNESS). We had money saved up, and thankfully one of our car payments is up next winter and will free up a good amount of $$ each month. I still REALLY stress about it, but thankfully we're going ok. If DH didn't have such a good job, I don't think we would be in a good place, despite not living beyond our means, kwim?
ETA: Thankfully since my DH still has his job, we were able to just add myself (and Callen once he was born) onto his insurance. I can't even imagine the mess that it would be to not have any insurance like that.....

 

[SmallMoments]

That happened to my husband, as well. He only got one unemployment check b/c he was fortunate enough to find another job right away- he says his unemployment was about 80% of what he was making before. We were able to hop on my insurance, fortunately.

 

[Leontine78]

Girls, when I read your stories I almost cry. What a difference with us in Holland.
We always complain we pay lots of taxes + medical insurance + fuel prices are really high.
I think in housing we pay a lot more per m2 but that our buildings are much more steady.

I think I am seeing things more in perspective....thanks girls.

Our goverment is not really loved, but all my medical bills are paid from the fee we pay every month. We only have 200 euro personal risk....but that's for exceptional costs and medicins and stuff. Not for first class mrdical care.

 

[origami]

The problem here is that once you are let go from your job, the problems can just spiral into disaster. Unemployment benefits simply won't cover all your bills and so many people end up having to decide between paying the mortgage or paying for healthcare.

As Nettio pointed out, healthcare insurance is tied to your place of employment (and not all places of employment offer it). Sometimes you are given the option of continuing your healthcare but through COBRA, which is a temporary insurance and usually extraordinarily expensive. I think that the advantage of going on COBRA is that it protects you from having to go through underwriting for pre-existing conditions when you apply for your next insurance policy. The new health care law is supposed to ban pre-existing conditions, if I remember correctly, but there's uncertainty as to whether that law will still be in place in a year or two.

Getting healthcare through Medicaid (which is state-funded health insurance for the indigent) is really difficult for a lot of families. In most states, you pretty much have to be poverty-stricken to get it and any assets you have can be held against you as a resource that you could liquidate. For example, some states won't let families have two cars if you are on Medicaid. That second car would be considered a resource. However, if both parents are seeking employment, the loss of the second car could be very detrimental to their job search.

A lot of states are having to write laws that ban discrimination against the unemployed. Believe it or not, but there are companies that specifically indicate that you must be currently employed or they will not consider your application!

And yes, add in the housing crisis. Many families are locked into houses that they cannot sell, so even if a job offer is made, the breadwinner may not be able to take it if they need to move.

It is a real mess!