" - - - Even with a check from the government, though, covering bills can be a struggle.
Lyn Douglass and her husband, William Hickey, who live in the Los Angeles neighborhood of North Hollywood, are feeling the pinch, even though California has relatively generous unemployment benefits.
Mr. Hickey, 40, who worked at an events planning company for the past 14 years, was furloughed at the end of March and has no idea when he will get his job back. “I’m in a bit of a limbo state right now,” he said. “It’s terrifying.”
Ms. Douglass, a casting producer and a wedding videographer, said her work started to dry up a few weeks earlier. Now nearly all of her spring gigs have been canceled.
They filed unemployment claims and have started receiving benefits, but said they had lost 75 percent of their average income. The state’s benefits can replace 60 to 70 percent of wages up to a maximum of $450, but, Ms. Douglass said, “it’s gotten to be so financially dire, I’m going to have to sell some of my cameras to pay rent. - - - ”
