Jobless Americans left scrambling after pandemic unemployment benefits end
By Tami Luhby April Stokes wants to go back to work. An optician by trade, Stokes was employed at Henry Ford OptimEyes until the coronavirus struck and school closed for her two young children. The family has been able to ride out the pandemic thanks to expanded federal unemployment benefits, which provided them with $1,152 every two weeks — much less than Stokes was making before, but enough to survive. Now, however, that vital lifeline has ended. Stokes isn’t worried about her ability to find a new job, but finding one that can accommodate her children’s schedules will be “next to impossible,”