{"id":8227,"date":"2012-06-14T06:14:31","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T12:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=8227"},"modified":"2012-06-14T11:18:45","modified_gmt":"2012-06-14T17:18:45","slug":"jobless-in-idaho-short-term-work-is-a-short-term-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/06\/14\/jobless-in-idaho-short-term-work-is-a-short-term-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"Jobless In Idaho: Short-Term Work Is A Short-Term Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Kelly Barker, in the backyard of her Meridian home.<\/p><\/div>\n

For months now, our “Jobless in Idaho” series has followed people here in Idaho as they search for work against hard odds.\u00a0 Kelly Barker, a single mom from Meridian, had been out of work for the better part of a year when we met her last winter.\u00a0 Since then, she\u2019s made do with a combination of temp work, food stamps and unemployment benefits.\u00a0 In April, those benefits were running out.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Barker was scouring the web for job possibilities when we last met<\/a>.\u00a0 It was a tense time, and Barker knew there was only one option.\u00a0 She had to find work.\u00a0 “I don\u2019t have a contingency plan,” she said.\u00a0 “You know, a mortgage payment \u2013 you\u2019d have to have a lot of savings to sustain you for a long period of time, and I don\u2019t, so I have ten weeks to find a job.\u00a0 Period.”<\/p>\n

Now, six weeks later, there\u2019s good news.\u00a0 When I visited Barker in Meridian this week, she\u2019d just come home from work.\u00a0 “I\u2019m working in a call center,” she explained, “so when I get to work, I have to punch in a code in the phone and calls start coming immediately and \u2013 I\u2019ve never worked in a call center before.\u00a0 It\u2019s quite an experience.”<\/p>\n

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