Nebraskans Tell Their COVID-19 Unemployment Stories

Last week the department of labor announced that unemployment claims in Nebraska soared to over 16,000, up from below 1,000 in previous weeks. Among those 16,000 are Nebraskans of all walks of life. Here are just a few of their stories.

Bethany - IT Supervisor - Lincoln

My name is Bethany and I live in Lincoln, Nebraska. I worked at Automated Systems. I was the supervisor of client services. I got called into a meeting. And I was told that was my last day and I needed to go home. Another gal had asked, "Hey, when the company is back, are you going to call us so we can come back?" And the response was, "No, but we'll post the jobs and you can apply again."

My fiance and I we did that weekend, we did one more, Sam's Club run, big grocery run, just because we don't know what our finances are going to be.

It's made me pretty insecure. I work IT. I have for the last decade. This was supposed to be one of those jobs that should be relatively safe. And it wasn't.

Katie - Cook - Omaha

My name's Katie. I work at a fine dining restaurant. My restaurant decided to close with no real word of when or whether we would be back open.

I did go on to file for unemployment as my employer instructed. There was no, like, severance or vacation or any kind of, like, bonus to be paid out.

I live with my boyfriend's and with a little bit of savings and his job, we're able to get by financially.

This is just sort of shaken up any notion of stability, so it's kind of gotten me rethinking my career path. Even though I am very passionate about cooking and food. Maybe restaurants won't be the industry I go back to even if my restaurant reopens.

Kathleen - Student - Lincoln

My name is Kathleen Pettit. I'm a college student living in Lincoln. I worked two jobs. I worked part time at a dental lab and part time at a funeral home.

I have started the process for unemployment. It's hard to figure out, like I'm trying to follow the steps and, you know, figure out if I'm even going to qualify because I still have my job at the funeral home.

It's just been very stressful and very overwhelming, trying to figure out what needs to be a priority when it comes to paying for things and how I can make my very little wages stretch as much as possible.