How to Cope up with Unemployment during COVID19

The stress of unemployment can take a severe toll on your mental health, and this mounts up if you have lost your job during COVID19. While people are still afraid of living life as they have been doing and the recession has worst hit the economy, job opportunities are all but nil. Since it is not clear when norms of physical distancing will ease up and vaccination will come into the market, there is a bleak hope that you will land a new job quickly.

When you lose your job, not only do financial worries bother you, but you also stop interacting with people. You are always having anxiety and negative thoughts unless you grab a job. It takes a toll on your mental health. You start living a purposeless life and get more worried about making your ends meet.

When you get stuck in this situation, you need to understand that you are not alone going through it. You are a human being, and you will naturally see ups and downs in your life. When stress starts hitting you, you should take a deep breath and find ways to get out of it. Here is what you can do to cope up with this situation:

Seek financial support

If you have lost your job after 28 February, your employer will send you on temporary leaves and pay you using the COVID19 job retention scheme. However, if your employer had to lay you off because of no business generation, you cannot get wages with this scheme. Instead, you need to apply for a jobseeker allowance.

Unemployment benefits can help ease your pressure. Though you will get a small amount of money, it will help you keep the wolf from the door. Something is better than nothing.

Create a budget

Since you have lost your job, now you will dip into your savings. As you have no idea how long it will take to land a new job, you need to be a bit more careful with your spending. Create a budget to take stock of how much money you spend every month. It will let you have an insight into where your money goes.

Make sure that you do not spend on discretionary items. As long as it is not necessary to spend money, you should put it off. Look over all your expenses and leave out that are not essential. Try to set a spending goal and stick to it to avoid overspending. Budgeting can help you have wiggle room, but it cannot let more cash flow in.

In case any emergency pops up, you will have to take out loans for unemployed with no fees. If you have been spending according to your budget, you would have room to make the repayment easily. Some reputed direct lenders are offering these loans at a reduced interest rate due to the pandemic.

Look for job opportunities

Even though COVID19 has hampered several companies, it does not mean that job vacancies are no longer available. Some companies still need people. If they are not open to their offices due to social distancing protocol, they are allowing them to work from home.

Apply to jobs through online portals. Update your resume, add your skills, and find out if any company is hiring for the profile you fit. Sitting back is not the solution even though unemployment has hit the economy. If you cannot get a full-time job, you should look for side gigs. Earning something is better than nothing.

Manage your payments

Keeping up with repayments is hard after losing the job. Talk to your lenders immediately and explain why you are unable to pay off your debts on time. Keeping in the loop before the due date can encourage them to put on a new repayment plan.

They can also extend the repayment date or pause the repayment until you land a new job. However, the interest will keep accruing if you are put on a moratorium.

During this tough time, it can be challenging to handle unemployment, but you can ease your stress by taking stock of your financial condition. Instead of racking up what has happened, you should look for ways to deal with it.