Letters to the Editor: Unemployed Californians are desperate for EDD money. It’s time for journalists to help

To the editor: I lost my job on June 22. I file an unemployment claim about once a week, but I am losing hope that I will receive any benefits at all. (“California lawmakers ask Newsom to act immediately on unemployment claims,” Aug. 5)

I go to the state’s website and it either says “reopen your claim” or “claim has been received.” If it says “reopen your claim,” I fill out the form again. If it says “claim has been received,” I wait a few days and check back to see if it says “reopen your claim.”

Since I get no other feedback, I am just continually checking and refiling the claim. I have no idea if I am doing this correctly.

I know that I am not alone, and I wish the L.A. Times would report more on the human toll this is taking on California. Our stories matter — we are taxpayers, parents, friends and citizens, and we are absolutely dependent on a system that is not helping us.

Our government has failed us, and we feel we have lost not only who we are as people, but we find out that our value is based on how much money we have to spend. If the last few months have taught us anything, it’s that when our own government devalues its people, we all lose.

L.A. Times, please do more than report the facts of the problem. You owe us information on how to get out of this situation, since help is so hard to find. Our state has failed us.

Krista Peterson, Lawndale

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To the editor: How infuriating that President Trump and Republicans in the Senate have been allowed to push the false narrative that people were choosing to sit at home in order to collect the weekly $600-federal unemployment stipend that expired at the beginning of the month. (“Trump’s unemployment benefit plan won’t work in California, Newsom says,” Aug. 10)

Many people have lost good-paying, rewarding jobs as a result of this shutdown and would give anything to be back at work. But there’s simply no work to be had.

Where are the statistics to back up this claim that unemployed people are just lazy slackers who are sitting at home willingly? It’s an insult to the working class of this country.

Thomas Walsh, West Hills