Earlier this week, unemployment insurance claims in the US soared past three million, a record-breaking number which far surpasses previous highs. To put it in context, this figure shatters the Great Recession crest of 665,000 of March 2009 and the previous record high of 695,000 in 1982, when the US Federal Reserve tried to tame inflation through its monetary policy. Even so, this number a rise of 3,001,000 from the previous week’s level of 282,000 understates the extent of the problem; it doesn’t include gig workers, the self-employed and other freelancers, who aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance in many states.
Around the world economies are all experiencing similar symptoms as millions of people are laid off because of Covid-19. This is going to be a global pandemic of unemployment, says David Blustein, a professor of counselling psychology at Boston College and the author of The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty: The Eroding Work Experience in America. I call it a crisis within a crisis.
Further compounding these dramatic figures is the speed at which many suddenly found themselves without work either laid off with some form of termination payment, asked to take indefinite unpaid leave or outright fired. This is, of course, a financial challenge for many who have suddenly lost their income, but it also presents a psychological challenge. When you lose your job, how do you handle those feelings?
Losing any job can be emotionally wracking, but to do so in our current environment of heightened uncertainty can add additional stressors into the mix.
How we all deal with stress is being intensified by this particular situation, says Adam Benson, a New York-based psychologist in private practice for 20 years. Some people are going into control mode and trying to control everything. But we have to face facts that we are not in control of our situation as much as we’d like to be.
Psychologists note that losing a job often equates to the grief of losing a loved one; the emotional trajectory can include any of the stages of grief, which run from shock and denial, through to anger and bargaining, and eventually to acceptance and hope.
For Donna Bertaccini, the way forward is about embracing the current reality, however scary it may be. The Great Recession was financially devastating for her company, Molesworth Enterprises, an independent film and television company that she’s run with her husband in Connecticut for 35 years. All her contract work fizzled as people retrenched, and it’s taken a long time to rebuild. We were just seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in December, she says. But this coronavirus is a game changer.
Projects are all on hold for the time being, yet Bertaccini remains optimistic that the current situation will improve and that work that has gone away will return in time. I think on some level everybody is in this boat together, she says. It doesn’t feel so isolating.
Part of her strategy to keep anxiety at bay is to stay informed about what resources are out there. She is encouraged by the $2 trillion emergency relief bill agreed to by congressional leaders and the White House. But the other part is nurturing her ability to stay positive and come from a place of gratitude.
Life does change on a dime, she says. It’s going to be a long haul but hopefully you can keep your sense of balance.
2020 BBC