What is unemployed together?

This is not a doom and gloom newsletter. ‘unemployed together’ is a news project that documents the personal stories of job loss due to the coronavirus pandemic and investigates resulting labor market shifts.

The project humanizes headlines about labor, destigmatizes the status of unemployment, and maps potential job trends.

‘unemployed together’ was founded by journalist Hope King in the spring of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic spread to the U.S.

More than 20 million Americans abruptly lost their jobs, including King, as a result of businesses that needed to or decided to shrink or shut down.

And although by the end of the year, roughly half of those jobs had been recovered, the outlook is precarious: More people have dropped out of the labor force. Job creation has slowed.

“If hiring continues at November’s pace, it will take more than three additional years before the United States regains all the jobs lost in early spring. And that estimate does not account for expected population growth, which would call for more jobs than we had pre-pandemic.” — Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell

But this sounds like doom and gloom. If we sit back and do nothing, yes.

If we listen to the people who are trying to make each day better, and we figure out how to help them make sense of mass changes, you’ll discover that ‘unemployed together’ is an archive of stories about hope, resiliency, and paths toward the future.

Weekly stories

Each week you’ll receive one to two stories in your mailbox written by Hope in the first person based on an interview she conducts with someone who lost their job. You’ll hear it in their voice.

‘unemployed together’ prioritizes BIPOC stories.

Monthly digests

Every month you’ll receive a digest of jobs-related news from the past 30 days. Who’s hiring and who’s not? Which industries are growing and shrinking? What can we learn from the latest jobs report? What might we expect next month?

Share your stories

If you’ve lost a job or are afraid of losing your job due to the pandemic, email me: hope@unemployedtogether.com.

Sponsor tips and job listings

If you’re in a position to hire, or share tips for job hunting and career changes, you can contribute to this newsletter with a sponsorship. Email hope@unemployedtogether.com for more information.

Additional support

‘unemployed together’ is self-funded by a partially unemployed journalist. Support her work through Venmo (@Hope-King).