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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Economy Notes from the Unemployment Line

Posted by Eli Sanders on Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 10:35 AM

Last Tuesday, "Chastity," 27, was having an unemployment freak-out (related to her part-time lesbian porn work, some pubic hair in a mason jar, and the value of a woman's labor in this economy). On this Tuesday she reports that some strains of unemployment angst can be soothed with the help of statistics.

I recently received an ominous letter in the mail from the Unemployment Office asking me to contact them about my eligibility for benefits.

After successfully navigating the telecenter's menu and hold line, I found out that my benefits had expired (I'd had a very short claim last winter when my last technical writing contract finished). I needed to open a new claim.

This process included a brief interview, which included one critical question: are you now or are you planning to enroll in school? Umm, yes? I explained about my web design course, which I was just taking in the evenings. The woman on the phone sadly told me she was forced to forward my claim to their auditing team. Which means I must now wait six weeks for their decision or until the end of my course—whichever comes first—before I can start receiving benefits again.

After my initial meltdown—sobbing and swearing—I got coldly logical: I am now poor. I don't have health insurance, I can't afford to replace my tattered winter coat, I have a dying elderly car that needs a thousand dollars of work if it is to keep running, I worry sometimes about paying for groceries, I've drained my savings. I am slipping into real poverty and despite doing every right thing—including blogging here, picking up the porn gig to help make ends meet, applying for every job I can find—I still can't support myself. In a fit of fury, I did some research into poverty standards for Washington and the nation. I had hoped I could use the data as some sort of validation of my struggle, or to bolster another grim argument about the availability of of low-income health care and food stamps—I don't qualify for either—but it actually cheered me up.

It turns out I'm not as poor as I thought. Well, I am, but not by any definition I could find. The 2009 Federal Poverty Level is $10,830 for a single adult—though few consider this a livable wage. Of more interest is the Self-Sufficiency Standard, the annual wage at which a person needs no additional support to survive. The most recent study I could find put this number at $1,673 per month in King County for a single adult. I get $1,844 on UI before taxes (after, I get $1,660). Once the increases go through, my monthly UI benefit before taxes will be $2,124. I am incredibly grateful for what I receive—even if the next month will be scary.

So, life could be much worse. I have two job leads from the last week where I've heard from the hiring managers that they are actively reviewing my application. I have a porn shoot coming up this weekend, which will help fill in the gaps, and I'm doing a little house-sitting in two weeks. It will be rough, but I should be ok. My fingers are crossed.

Have an unemployment story to share? Write to jobless@thestranger.com.

Photo by Kelly O

Comments (24) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

it's refreshing to see someone understand the concept of real poverty - most people don't.

Posted by xina on February 17, 2009 at 10:42 AM

God damnit, I've been worrying about how to pay for groceries for the last 3 years. It's really not that hard. I think everyone could take a lot away from remembering what it was like to be on your own the first few years after moving out of your parent's care.

Eat less organic and buy more canned beer.

Posted by It's the water on February 17, 2009 at 10:48 AM

People will find work sooner if they are not getting paid $2000 a month not to work.

Posted by Adam Smith on February 17, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Unless you are in school full time you are better off not reporting it. When the audit comittee finds that it is part time, evening and not interfering with your ability to work and that you are not taking any kind of student aid (even DoEd loans) they will almost certainly say oh, OK and approve your claim. If any of these are yeses then it gets a little tricky.

Its to bad most people only learn the rope of UI when they are in a desparate situation. Good Luck.

Posted by wl on February 17, 2009 at 10:54 AM

@3: Yes! I mean, if it's a choice between coal mines and starving to death, I'm sure that some people might risk an occasional cave-in.

Posted by Robber Baron Extraordinaire on February 17, 2009 at 10:54 AM

They're not getting paid $2k a month to not work, they're getting paid to not start living on the street or stealing food.

Posted by tiktok on February 17, 2009 at 10:57 AM

@3 - You don't know how Unemployment Insurance works, do you?

Posted by Soupytwist on February 17, 2009 at 11:03 AM

I am a permanent, full-time, salaried state employee and my take-home pay is $1,600/month. Two grand a month sounds amazing.

Posted by just sayin' on February 17, 2009 at 11:04 AM

thank goodness for porn!

Posted by Max Solomon on February 17, 2009 at 11:08 AM

@2 - The big bottle of Gato Negro comes close to PBR on the budget front. 12cans/6.99 v 10drinks/6.99

Might I also suggest Totinos pizza - sure the toppings resemble dogfood, but at $1.69/750 calories, it's disgusting bargain.

Go Grad School!

Posted by AF on February 17, 2009 at 11:21 AM

I am an employeer and understand perfectly how it works (and who actually pays for it). It is remarkable how many people manage to find work after their benefits run out.

Posted by wouldn't expect the slugs on slog to understand, however on February 17, 2009 at 11:38 AM

What I find hilarious is going to the food bank and finding old pastries there that I definitely wrapped for donation at work.

Posted by Kira on February 17, 2009 at 11:48 AM

I too am a full-time, permanent employee with the school district. My take-home pay is $2k a month. Can't live on $1600? Then let's switch jobs! I'd love to get $1600 and be able to do what I want -write, blog, organize, invent, reduce my carbon footprint, volunteer for some campaigns. Unemployment is more about what to do with your free time, and most of us aren't creative enough to figure that out. I was cronically unemployed for the better part of seven years -except for a freakish 3 month period never on UI. I scrapped and got by, only living on the streets/in my car for a couple weeks when I bottomed out from some bad decisions with the wrong women (and that was in year 5). It often sucked, but then I did a lot of great things and got to use my time effectively. Now I'm someone else's slave for $2k and health benefits. It often sucks just as much. The only consolation is that I work with the truly impovershed who will probably not do as well as I did.

But I digress.

Serious about switching shoes. Email me if you wanna.

Posted by Lose-Lose on February 17, 2009 at 12:59 PM

Might I also suggest Totinos pizza - sure the toppings resemble dogfood, but at $1.69/750 calories, it's disgusting bargain.

For only two cents more, you could get nine bananas from Trader Joe's. That's about 900 calories of pure delicious-slash-nutritious-ness.

Just make sure you don't eat 'em 'til they're fully ripe. Unripe bananas are not very nutritious, not very tasty, and will make you constipated.

Posted by shitbrain on February 17, 2009 at 1:10 PM

I am a full-time employee of a large insurance corporation, 2 years out of college, and I make less than her after-tax UI income.

$1660 a month in UI benefits is un-freakin-believable. And $2200? She's going to get a $24k/year salary while shes unemployed? If she can't find a way to eke by on that, she's buying too many gold bars and diamonds.

Posted by Erik on February 17, 2009 at 1:19 PM

I've been on unemployment insurance before and it seems like many posters here are (mercifully) unaware as to how it works. You receive payments every week but it's only a fraction of what you made before. So, if this person is making $2000 a month in UI, then this person was probably making twice that amount before they were laid off. You plan your whole life around your income--when you're only making a fraction of that income (all of a sudden), it can be very difficult if not impossible to adjust without changing your entire life around (which it sounds like this person is doing).

If you think being on UI is a treat, be my guest and get laid off. Try it out. It's not a vacation.

Posted by Meags. on February 17, 2009 at 2:02 PM

hey i'm wondering if the ones who've posted above who say they earn the same or less - do you get health insurance as well as a salary? because if you do, you actually are earning WAY more.

but yeah, lots of grad students earn less and make it just fine.

Posted by onion on February 17, 2009 at 2:02 PM

@13,

If you switched shoes with her, you'd be getting $1000/month in UI. How easily can you adjust to having your income cut in half? How much fun would you be having making so little money?

@11,

It's remarkable how many people have completely given up on finding a job, even before this current crisis. As of a few years ago, the de facto unemployment rate was around 14 percent. Still care to completely make shit up?

Posted by keshmeshi on February 17, 2009 at 2:20 PM

18 is there a point hidden in there?

Posted by ? on February 17, 2009 at 2:28 PM

even though i'm making 60-65K now compared to the 35-40K/year like i was making last year working as a contract software tester at a company that shall remain nameless, i'm still living as if I make 40K, especially in this economy.

but i've taken unemployment, it sucks. but i took it when the economy wasn't as shitty as it is now. When my last contract ended last year, I signed up for unemployment but also was doing interviews and decided to take a temp position through the UW just before unemployment kicked in. 18/hr before taxes was much more than unemployment. So i took that. plus when you're working, looking for a better job is easier as you know you're not desperate to take anything that comes by.

Posted by apres_moi on February 17, 2009 at 2:50 PM

"Chastity",
Having been there and done that, may I suggest, purchasing a monthy Metro bus pass, unsubscribe from cable TV, use the public library for email/internet service, media (ie DVDs etc.) and books and eat ramen noodles. It will help you with tight budget. Oh, ride a bike and don't reproduce (ie don't have any kids yet). Good Luck.

Posted by lark on February 17, 2009 at 3:29 PM

Well, Chastity, this is a good opportunity for you to learn about your privilege. When I was an Americorps member I worked full-time, attended school part-time and made $6,000 that whole year.

Posted by elle indsay on February 17, 2009 at 5:49 PM

22
why?

Posted by . on February 17, 2009 at 6:13 PM

Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."

Posted by Yorkshireman on February 17, 2009 at 6:54 PM