PrintA New York Times/CBS News poll released Monday found that 26 percent of unemployed Americans surveyed have been threatened with evictions or foreclosure since losing their jobs and 13 percent have lost their homes for not paying their mortgage or rent.
Those who have been looking for a job for six months or more are even more likely to have been threatened with foreclosure, according to the survey conducted on December 5 through December 10.
With 15.4 million Americans currently unemployed, some 4 million would be at risk of losing their homes and 2 million would have lost them, if the survey’s findings proved to be true on a national level. Total foreclosures in 2009 are expected to exceed 3.5 million, according to RealtyTrac.
The poll found that 86 percent of those surveyed say the loss of their jobs plunged them into crisis. For 46 percent of the unemployed, that crisis was described as “major.” Among those out of work more than six months, 57 percent say their unemployment caused a major life crisis.
Fewer than half expect the jobs their communities have lost will come back when the economy recovers. Those who have been out of work longer are even less hopeful.
Faced with switching occupations or moving, just over 40 percent said they had moved or considered moving to another part of the state or country where there were more jobs. More than two-thirds of respondents had considered changing their career or field, and 44 percent of those surveyed had pursued job retraining or other educational opportunities.
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