Antje Newby went back to work in September, but she has still not escaped the burden imposed by nine months of unemployment.
Mrs. Newby and her husband were forced to walk away from their home in suburban Detroit and are now living here in a rented house with their three children. They are bracing for a huge tax bill in the spring because of early withdrawals they made on her 401(k) and taxes they still owe on unemployment benefits. Their credit is in tatters, and their 16-year marriage showed cracks they are still trying to repair.
“We’re not done living through the fallout of all of that,” Mrs. Newby said, four months into her new job as an account director of an advertising agency here.
The wound of unemployment, as her family has learned, is not cauterized so quickly, and lives do not simply go back to the way they were.