After losing their jobs, these Americans face painful choices

Judy Woodruff:

The latest jobless claims cast a stark spotlight on an emerging economic crisis in America, one that's likely to worsen in the weeks and months ahead.

We're going to show a slice of how this is affecting individuals and families, and then look at what more should be considered by the government.

Let's begin with a sampling of voices of workers who were laid off or furloughed. We asked you, our viewers, to describe the problems and choices they are facing.

Dirk Bokeloh:

My name is Dirk Bokeloh. I live in Seattle, Washington. I was an operations manager for a luxury travel agency.

Louis Vasquez:

My name is Louis Vasquez. I essentially work in entertainment marketing in Los Angeles.

Tamika Anderson:

Tamika Anderson. I'm 38. I'm from West Philadelphia. I'm janitorial. I clean, clean the office, trash, vacuum.

Lisa Ann Der:

My name is Lisa Ann Der, and I live in San Diego, California. I was a salesperson in a clothing store.

Scott Sexon:

My name's Scott Sexson. I live in Kenmore, Washington. I work as a florist. And right now, I'm a professional unemployment insurance caller-upper.

Tamika Anderson:

I'm not going to be able to eat. I'm not going to be able to pay my gas, my electric, my rent, to buy the things that I need to buy on a day-to-day basis just to survive.

Louis Vasquez:

Even the smallest thing like going to eat at McDonald's becomes a luxury, because you're like, oh, that 10 bucks could buy me like, you know, cereal for a month or something.

Lisa Ann Der:

We need food. We need electricity. We need to stay in our home, those kinds of things. Then you just are looking at survival.

Dirk Bokeloh:

I have been laid off for a little — about two-and-a-half weeks now, and still have not been able to get any sort of employment insurance approved.

I'm a type 1 diabetic. So, you know, the rising cost of insulin is something I have watched from the sidelines, really, because I have always had really good employer-provided health care. But I'm looking at this sudden cutoff where that won't be the case anymore, and kind of stockpiling as much insulin as possible now.

Scott Sexon:

I can't pay any of my bills for this month, definitely not next month. So, I'm calling up, like, the banks and the credit card companies to, you know, see what we can do.

Tamika Anderson:

I never thought that I would ever have to apply for food stamps, whatever, welfare ever again. You know, that was something I did at a young age. When I had my son, I vowed to, you know, keep a job and keep income coming in, so I wouldn't have to, you know, do those type things again.

Lisa Ann Der:

I kept getting e-mails from the store, keep — they kept pushing back the time frame.

And then they were the ones that said, I think you need to look into unemployment.

I hate to use the word ashamed, but I really was, because I thought — I thought I was stronger than that and more prepared than that. But the longer I started thinking of how long this would be and how maybe my daughter would be affected, that's when I made the shift. It's not just about me.

Louis Vasquez:

I have had conversations with my parents about having to probably move back home if it doesn't — if I can't find work or if I don't get approved for unemployment, which is kind of sad, because, you know, no one ever wants to think, oh, my gosh, I'm about to turn 50 years old, and I'm going to have to move back home.

But that's the reality of it, just to survive.

Judy Woodruff:

And we thank you for those comments you shared.