Unemployment has been a big issue since the beginning of when the pandemic started. This forced everyone that had lost a job to adjust to their lifestyle and it also forced them to fight even harder just to stay alive. 

In the article, “What It’s Like To Job Hunting for Months During the Pandemic” by Reina Sultan discusses 7 people that had to job hunt because they lost their previous job due to covid. Covid has definitely forced many people to look for job’s since most jobs before were required in person but now there are many jobs that moved to working from home. 

The article stated,” In September, unemployment in the U.S. fell below 10 percent for the first time since March 2020.” This means that since the pandemic started, the unemployment rate has increased and fewer jobs are available. Ngozi is 25 years old from Brooklyn, one of the 7 people that were included in this article and she mentions, “From the start, navigating job opportunities has felt pretty hopeless, especially as the death toll and unemployment numbers skyrocketed.” This shows that not only she is feeling dreadful but many others that are jobless feel the same way. I believe that the mental health of the people that are unemployed has been damaged because it puts a lot of stress on them.  

There is a bigger competition to find jobs now due to how the pandemic has affected this world, this pandemic has made people have to fight for survival even harder. When the competition gets harder, the harder it gets to survive. People that are unemployed need to stay hopeful because hope combats negative thoughts and it helps see light at the end of the tunnel. 

I interviewed my older brother that has been affected by the pandemic which made him look for new jobs. My brother had a job at a restaurant place before covid and during covid but that shut down because the place wasn’t gaining enough money to keep it running. This led to him losing his job and going job hunting. He was able to find a new job at a hospital but it was a journey for him to get there.

 I asked him, “How was the process of finding a new job?”. He told me, “the process was very difficult, I would apply to many different jobs and not hear from them ever again but I knew I couldn’t give up. It was a very stressful and long process because all I wanted to do was to provide for my family and make sure we are all good. I’m very grateful for being able to have the opportunity to get a job during an extremely difficult time we are living right now.” I understand his view because he has built a family and needs to support them, I can tell it wasn’t an easy process for him to go through because when he had no job, he had to worry about if his family was going to be okay.  

It is hard to think about not being able to provide for your family while having no job. Another question I asked my brother was, “How do you feel after you have found a new job?”. He replied, “I felt really relieved because now I don’t have to worry about me being able to support my family. I also feel blessed because I know there are many people that filed for unemployment due to covid and I somehow was able to get a job during this time period.” I can tell that he was happy because I know he only wants the best for his family and he is going to try his best to support them. Him getting the job removed his worries that he had when he didn’t have a job. 

 I came across this Youtube video titled, “How Unemployment impacted  Millennials During Coronavirus” and it discusses how different people all over the country who filed for unemployment were impacted by it. 

For example, one woman in the video talks about how she lived with her friend while she was unemployed for free. I can tell she was really thankful and happy for that opportunity because there are many people that don’t have a place to live and now are currently stressing where they are going to have their next meal and where they are even going to stay for the night. There are many people that don’t have homes because they lost their job during this time and forces them to face challenges. If that woman  didn’t have that friend to help her, where could she have been? She would probably struggle even more and be forced to fight for survival even harder just to make sure she’s alive.

Adding on, the video also addressed percentages of different rates of jobless workers who received unemployment benefits, 24 percent of jobless White workers, 22 percent of Hispanic workers, and 13 percent of Black workers have received unemployment benefits during the pandemic. This goes to show that there are many people that haven’t received unemployment benefits and this can lead to even worse outcomes, such as homelessness. There’s many people that need to get paid or else survival is going to get harder for them. If this occurs, this will put a demand on homeless shelters and bigger solutions will need to be made so we can avoid seeing the worst from unemployment. I believe that everyone that is qualified for those benefits should receive them as soon as possible because there are many people that need that money to be able to survive. 

Reflection

My opinion editorial is formatted in essay format because I wanted to be straightforward and make sure anyone that reads my piece of writing understood what I was trying to say. This format allows me to be informative, concise and organized at the same time. My audience is anyone that has experienced any unemployment issues due to covid. It can also be for people that are currently unemployed and looking for jobs at the moment. The rhetorical situation that I addressed is the issue of employment and unemployment and how covid had a major impact on many people losing their jobs. I mainly used logos because I used statistical data to help show and support what I had to say about unemployment during the pandemic. Using logos, I know that I can gain the reader’s trustworthiness by using facts and statistics. At the same time, I was also using a little pathos to show the people that are reading my work what emotions are felt by the people who lost their job from something that they couldn’t control and to show how it feels to be jobless in this world. My goal in doing this is for my audience to relate to and give them hope because I know that the people who lost their job are going through a very difficult time as well as all of us are. I feel like there’s a lot of people that are still currently unemployed and the people that qualify for unemployment benefits and haven’t received them yet should be able to receive them soon because there are too many people that are struggling right now. During the writing process of this essay, I felt really connected to this because I have family and friends that have been affected by this issue and I’ve seen them turn darkness into light. An example that I mentioned in my essay, was my older brother, like how he lost his job because of covid and it forced him to search for a new one and he never gave up and eventually, he found one that he is currently working at. I hope my essay gives people the motivation and hope they need to keep moving forward.

Works cited

1. Article: Sultan, Reina. What It’s Like to Job Hunt for Seven Months During a Pandemic, 29 Sept. 2020, 7:00am, www.vice.com/en/article/wxqmkx/job-hunting-for-seven-months-during-covid-19-pandemic-unemployment.  

2. Youtube Video: CNBC, director. How Unemployment Impacted Millennials During Coronavirus. YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGWNCl0Wdy4.