Sep 26, 2008 6:35 pm US/Eastern
What's Worrying You: 'Nobody Will Hire Me'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
CBS 2 has been asking viewers to tell us what's worrying them about the economic crisis. The response has been overwhelming. Nicole from Yonkers writes:
"I am laid off of work for three months now. My unemployment is now being held and my last job doesn't wanna pay. … The jobs I have been finding all want college grads … yet I have been working for 15 years. [I] can't afford food … I fear that the economic crisis is only going to get worse." We decided to tell her story.
Nicole Salvatore's kitchen pantry is nearly empty, a sign of the tough times she's facing, out of a job and just about out of money.
"It's been pretty empty now for a little over a week and it's heartbreaking because I can't afford to go grocery shopping," she admits.
Cutbacks led to the administrative assistant being laid off in July, and since then it's been a daily grind of job sites, cover letters, resumes, and frustration.
"They say, 'Thank you for your time, we'll give you a call,' and you don't hear from them," she says.
But she does hear from bill collectors, yet there's little she can do because a mix-up with unemployment means no checks for at least another month.
"The bill-paying unfortunately has to be put on hold and then my credit is getting ruined even worse so the more I feel like I'm getting up, I'm getting pulled back down," she says.
Next week the 32-year-old may try to do something she never ever envisioned: apply for welfare and get some food stamps.
"You gotta do what you gotta do and it's there for help. But if I have no income coming in, I'm going to need something," she says.
Steve Weber, who runs an employment agency, says the best thing Salvatore can do is get back in the game any way she can and know that temp jobs sometimes turn permanent.
"Right now it's a difficult environment," he says. "They don't want to spend time on the unemployment line so whatever they can do closest to their job function or what they used to be doing is probably the best thing for them."
Salvatore says she'll do anything to pay her rent. Until then she's praying and pursuing a college degree so that some day she won't have to struggle.
But that day seems far away.
We want to know what financial concerns have you worried? From housing to basic food costs and everything in between.
What's Worrying You? Let Us Know.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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