TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Extended Benefits Provide Lifeline For Many Unemployed

ADVERTISEMENT

The New York Times

Published: December 29, 2008

HUDSON - Rick E. Rockwell plopped his large frame down in front of his laptop, next to a foot-wide sheaf of unpaid bills still in their envelopes, lined up like an accordion on his desk. He logged into his bank account to see if his unemployment check had been deposited yet.

His balance, however, remained stuck at $57.17.

"That's amazing to me," Rockwell said. "It still hasn't posted yet."

So Rockwell began another day as a man of the middle class who is now living on an economic precipice.

Rockwell, 56, who estimates he has sent out more than 400 job applications during the past year and gone to just four interviews, is one of the more than 5.4 million people across the country receiving unemployment benefits. And Rockwell is part of arguably the hardest-luck group of all - those who have been out of work for so long that they are depending on a second emergency extension of unemployment insurance that Congress passed and President Bush signed last month.

In the 21 states and the District of Columbia currently with three-month average unemployment rates above 6 percent, that means 20 more weeks of what has become an economic lifeline for many. Florida's rate for November was 7.3 percent.

For Rockwell, who lost his job as a sales manager at a computer store in January, the weekly checks of $275 - the maximum allowed him under Florida law and a little less than half his former take-home pay - have become crucial. Rockwell is playing a balancing act so he can keep the edifice of his former life from crumbling, paying off certain bills and letting others lapse so he can stay just ahead of his creditors.

Rockwell had been without benefits for more than a month after he exhausted the first federal extension in October, which lasted 13 weeks, on top of the 26 weeks he had received from the state.

After supporters were unable to get the legislation through Congress before the election, Bush signed the second extension in late November. Florida, like other states, has been rushing to get checks to so-called gap people like Rockwell whose benefits had expired. Advocates estimate there are about 800,000 nationwide.

"States are really overwhelmed in terms of responding to claims," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project. "They were pushed beyond the brink in terms of doing the second extension."

Florida added 50 staff members to its unemployment insurance division in recent weeks, bringing its total to around 870. It also recently added 345 lines to its phone system for a total of just more than 1,000, and has extended its call-in hours.

'The Floor Came Out'

There are, of course, people who are much worse off than Rockwell; but there are also many who have had much more of a financial cushion to get through this crisis.

Last year, Rockwell was making $31,200 a year as sales manager of a computer store that he had started 15 years ago with his brother, Rodney.

But the rise of big-box stores like Best Buy, along with the recession, combined to drive their store, Comp-U-Save, into the ground.

"All of a sudden, the floor came out from underneath it," said Rodney Rockwell, who closed his old store in October and reopened under a new name.

The brothers agreed that Rick would leave, because the store, by that point, was depending mostly on its repair business, which was Rodney's specialty. They also figured that because Rick was younger and had some background managing restaurants, he would be able to find a job relatively easily.

He had a little more than $5,000 in his bank account, mostly what was left over from a $40,000 second mortgage he took out on his home four years ago.

But Rockwell has been succumbing to a slow economic death, which accelerated in the past month as his unemployment benefits lapsed.

His mortgage lender has begun foreclosure proceedings on his modest two-bedroom home, on which he still owes $117,000. He has begun packing to move into his 84-year-old mother's two-bedroom condominium nearby.

He is in danger of losing his red 2005 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible, a prized possession that he keeps gleaming in his garage. He has listed for sale both that car and a 1996 Toyota RAV4, which he keeps in the driveway, but he is secretly hoping to keep the Spyder.

He is two months behind on his electric bill. A partial payment by a local church helped him keep the power on. His water bill is in arrears as well.

Rockwell was settling into his love seat a weeks ago to watch TV when he found his cable had been cut off.

Then Rockwell found a note on his door from his neighbor that someone had been looking for him.

It turned out to be a collections agency for one of his credit cards. Rockwell has racked up about $15,000 in bills for various cards, reaching his limit on all but one.

In a final indignity, Rockwell wakes up most mornings on the ground because the air mattress he sleeps on, after his waterbed sprang a leak earlier this year, has a hole in it.

'I'm Beyond That'

Rockwell now spends most of his days hunched in front of his laptop. He spends several hours going through new job postings in the morning and then devotes himself to several Internet marketing schemes promising riches.

Keeping in mind the criticism of those who say expanded unemployment benefits keep people from working, Rockwell conceded he might appear to be too picky in the jobs he would accept. He has mostly ruled out commuting to Tampa because of the distance. He has also tried to confine himself to looking for management-level restaurant jobs.

"I'm not going to clean grills, take out the garbage," Rockwell said. "I've done that before, but I feel I'm beyond that."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT