Have you been recently feeling like you are unable to keep up with everything that is going on during this pandemic? You may be feeling like you have no idea how you are going to recover from everything that this virus is affecting. You just try and tell yourself that everything is going to be okay soon and that the stress of fighting for hours or needing another job will be gone and it will all be back to normal. You work as much as you can at your current job, and even go out and try to get another job but there are no hours available at another workplace. No matter what you try you end up still asking the same question, “When is this going to be over?”

Currently, the Trading Economics poll on unemployment rates shows that the current unemployment rate in the United States is 4.4 percent, which means it has gone up a whole 0.9 percent in just one month. Not just in Utah, but in the entire nation as a whole. We went from the lowest unemployment rates we have seen, to the largest we have seen since August of 2017. In an article that was written by Gov. Gary Herbert and Lieutenant Gov. Spencer Cox, it notes that the unemployment rate rose 2.6 percent in just the month of March here in Utah. At this point, the unemployment rates can only go up.

The nation was at an all-time high in full-time jobs in August of 2019 with 132.16 million people working, and it has now gone all the way down to 127.98 million people.

The question now is how will everyone still be able to get their basic needs with the economy at such an all-time low?

Essential services, such as food and groceries, are still up and running in states, but at what cost? With restaurants being open only for takeout, it takes away the crucial dine-in factor that gets them the majority of their income. According to Buffalo Wild Wings, the company as a whole only sold a few hundred pounds less of wings than before the shutdowns but were losing thousands of dollars in income. This is even after they had to cut their hours, and even some of their staff including all servers and bartenders. 

About half the staff at Buffalo are servers and bartenders, all of which had no choice but to either file for unemployment, or to go searching for another job in order for them to stay on their feet.

How does this affect Herriman High School?

Herriman High School is a school with many students, and these students are getting to the point where they need to get money in order to do their everyday tasks. They are transitioning into adulthoodVirus leading to families losing money, and not getting money in the bank and learning what it is like to have a job. Herriman High school has a very large working class, and they are also losing hours just like everyone else. Although these students may not have to pay mortgages, they still might be responsible for paying for their cars, gas, insurance, or even just to be able to go out and have fun with friends. Some of these students have spoken up about how they feel, and are all feeling the same way, saying things like “it is hard to keep up with all these major changes” and talking about how it is hard for them to pay for the things that they were paying for before.