Family, friends provide help for unemployed

By Alex Veiga
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Unemployed and running out of money, Brad Hoegler is back where he never thought he'd be — home with his parents.

Roger Smith tried to make a go of it in New York when he lost his engineering job 18 months ago, but after five months he was broke and had to move in with his girlfriend. Now he's living with relatives in Pasadena, Calif. Associated Press

Hoegler, who left home eight years ago, said his only option was moving back in with his parents in Southern California.

"It puts a little crimp in my social life," Hoegler said. "But it certainly helps me, there's no two ways about that. I couldn't have made it paying rent somewhere."

Hoegler is part of an unhappy trend — frustrated job seekers forced to move in with relatives and friends because they can't pay the rent. Others are depleting savings or maxing out credit cards before taking minimum-wage jobs.

Of the 9 million Americans who were unemployed last month, 2 million had been jobless for at least 27 weeks — a week longer than most states pay benefits in a 12-month period, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Washington-based Urban Institute said about 40 percent of all those who collected benefits last year were still unemployed when their checks ran out.

To ease the financial crunch, President Bush signed a bill last month extending jobless benefits through December. But about a million people who already have used up their benefits are not eligible for the program.

Even professionals who have saved for hard times find themselves turning to family and friends as weeks go by without a paycheck.

Engineer Roger Smith tried to hold out after he lost his six-figure salary more than a year ago. He used his severance pay, savings and $300 a week in benefits to come up with the $3,000 rent for his apartment in New York.

But after five months, Smith was broke and had to move in with his girlfriend. After a few more months and just one job interview, he moved again, this time moving in with relatives in Pasadena, Calif.

"I gave up everything. I'm basically down to buying food and gas," Smith said. "Initially, I thought I could get another job fairly easily. I've never seen it this bad."

Carl Rothenhauser, of La Palma, Calif., lost his job as a software development consultant more than a year ago. His wife was also was unemployed for most of 2002.

"I was very fortunate when I did the consulting. I was able to bank (some) of that check," Rothenhauser said. "I planned for something like this."

The couple began living off their savings, and later Rothenhauser began drawing unemployment benefits. But after several months searching for work, Rothenhauser had just two interviews.

"Savings are pretty much going now," he said. "Part of that money that we were living on was to buy a place."

Many recent college graduates also find it's hard to be independent as a lack of good jobs reduces their ability to survive on their own.

Samantha Hauser earned her MBA last month from George Washington University and has sent out 135 resumés since February. She's had just four interviews so far: Two of those have yet to say yes, but they haven't said no, either.

"Those are pretty much my only prospects right now," said Hauser, who is looking for a job in healthcare marketing in New York.

Hauser said she might be forced to move back in with her parents in Philadelphia if she doesn't have a job when the lease expires on the apartment she shares with her fiancé. His job won't start until September and the chances of getting a new apartment when both are unemployed are slim.

She said moving back home isn't "the worst possible thing. But we would obviously prefer not to do it."

Sue Ellenburg of Easley, S.C., saved six months' earnings but never expected it would take so long to find a job.

Ellenburg went to work part time as a cashier at Wal-Mart eight months after losing her job as a human-resources manager for a textile firm. She took the $80-a-week job to help supplement the $213 a week she receives in unemployment aid.

She already has burned through most of her savings to help pay her $790-a-month mortgage and has cut her expenses, including eliminating health insurance. She found new homes for her two dogs and cat because she could no longer afford to care for them.

Ellenburg lives alone and figures she has another six to eight months before her savings are depleted. If she loses her home, an aunt in the area has offered to take her in.

"It's not working," she said of her dwindling savings. "There's no way that I can live on this."