The Idaho Statesman wants to hear your story about unemployment struggles
Over the past three months of the coronavirus shutdown, as many as 141,000 Idahoans have filed for unemployment. With such an unprecedented number of claims, Idaho has struggled to approve unemployment checks for an untold number of people.
Idahoans without paychecks and unable to collect unemployment are struggling to make ends meet. We’ve been hearing from readers who say they’re living on retirement savings, family members are helping pay bills, some are scraping by on Social Security payments and some are looking for creative ways to raise money, like selling off their furniture.
In recent days, telling the stories of everyday Idahoans struggling with the state’s poor handling of unemployment claims seems to have moved the needle. We’re hearing reports of more people getting approved for their unemployment money.
But we still have a long way to go, with an unknown number of people still with unprocessed claims who have been without a paycheck for weeks and even months.
We want to hear from you. We want to continue telling the stories of people still without an unemployment payment or, in some cases, even a response from the Idaho Department of Labor.
We’ve set up a survey to fill out so that we can help tell your story and tell the rest of Idaho what the impact has been on you and your family.
This story was originally published June 14, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
