nj, you and your siblings were fortunate in that you decided to leave before you actually joined a union and began your careers.
I can’t find it now but I recently read somewhere that in the hardest-hit counties in OH, the median home value was just $128K today. I’m just wondering how these longtime homeowners can actually sell (especially expediently and for anywhere near $128K) and hope to have enough to start over in another locale when/if they are offered a job with a start date. I can’t imagine after being unemployed for so long that they can afford to carry an empty house, even if it is just taxes and insurance. Of course, a lot of families (esp those nearing retirement) may have saved up a good-sized nest egg but have possibly had to go thru some or all of it depending on how many years they hung around after their unemployment ran out.
Something tells me that a lot of these folks’ savings isn’t what it should be cuz they were counting on a a certain amount of defined benefit monthly pension (which now isn’t quite going to be as much as they expected).
I’m sure it was easier for many families to stay put after they lost their job(s), especially for families with fairly low monthly expenses who had kids in school, especially high school.
