Without $600 Weekly Benefit, Unemployed Face Bleak Choices

When the pandemic hit, Enrique Guzman, a fleet service clerk at Los Angeles International Airport, was given the choice: to keep working or to stay home and receive a portion of his income, the equivalent of 10 hours a week.

Mr. Guzman, 27, decided to stay home. He has asthma, which puts him at a higher risk of complications if he were to catch the coronavirus, and he lives with his girlfriend and her mother, whose age, 51, makes her vulnerable to the virus. Between unemployment benefits and the partial paychecks from the airline, he was able to bring in $1,050 a week — less than he earned working full time, but enough to support his girlfriend and her mother.

But without the extra money, Mr. Guzman can no longer afford the $1,875 rent for their two-bedroom apartment in Montebello, Calif., plus the cost of utilities, food, and his student and car loan payments.

On Monday, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, he put on his uniform and returned to the airport for his first shift since the pandemic started. Mr. Guzman said he had no other choice.

“It wasn’t something that I wanted to do, but I’m the only income in my household now and I needed to go back to work so we can afford to pay our rent, afford to pay our bills,” he said. “I’m putting myself at risk so that we can afford to stay afloat.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/business/economy/lost-unemployment-benefits.html