Posted at: 11/11/2011 10:24 PM
By: Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4
 Carol Bruntlett |
Thousands of New Mexicans have fallen through the cracks in the great recession.
They lose their jobs, can't find new ones, run out of unemployment benefits and have nowhere to turn for help.
Carol Bruntlett of Albuquerque's North Valley is trying hard not to fall through right now.
The 54-year-old spends much of every day on her iPad looking for jobs and filling out applications.
She was laid off from a plumbing warehouse shipping and receiving job and can't find another one, and after two years her unemployment benefits have run out.
She said she has many years of experience with customer service and cashiering - still, no job offers.
"I've got November covered but I don't know where December's gonna come from," Bruntlett said. "You figure you don't have rent to pay for your following month, you've got utility bills coming in. You have no money to pay those, and then you're trying to look for a job and you have no money to put gas in your vehicle, so it's like, what do you do? You're just kind of at a standstill."
She has plenty of company.
Thousands of New Mexico jobs shriveled up and blew away in the recession.
The federal government says overall 14 million Americans are unemployed, but they admit they're not counting at least 2.6 million who've given up looking, and some economists say it could be much higher.
Bruntlett is not giving up.
She credits her strong religious faith, and after all she's got to feed herself and her energetic dog Hershey.
"I just want to get a job so I can get back to life again," she said. "Right now I feel like I'm not worth anything. Not working and not being able to pay your bills - it takes a toll on you."
A new study released this week by the Pew Charitable Trust reveals that, once they lose their jobs, older workers are far more likely to stay out of work a year or longer - just like Bruntlett.
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Source: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s2369872.shtml?cat=500
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