Until late January, Andrew Young was a loan officer for disaster assistance relief under the federal Small Business Administration.
It was a remote job that he landed last October. With the election of President Donald Trump, he suspected the change in the White House could be a problem for him but he held out hope anyway.
“I loved that job,” he said. “Helping people who really need the help — that was sort of a heartwarming type of job.”
Since being terminated, Young said he’s applied for unemployment assistance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. He had to overcome his pride to accept the help. It’s been a relief but he’s eager to return to work and get that boost in self image.
“I think we all feel that way. We feel value based in what we're doing,” he said. “And without that, you have to get up every morning, and you have to have that talk, that motivational speech, and that's what I do.”
With their finances uncertain, Young and his family might have to skip their annual tradition of visiting his wife’s family in the Philippines, where she’s from. “You can't go if you don't have the money,” he notes, but it’s a motivating factor for him to find new work.
“Just keep thinking positively about the future, because if you get down too low for too long, you're going to stop, and then you're going to have real problems,” he said.
According to a report from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, federal workers make up about 6.8% of the workforce in Weber County. So Young isn’t alone in making hard choices about work and finances.
Over 7,000 of those jobs are with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which includes the Internal Revenue Service. The agency dismissed approximately 100 workers in Ogden earlier this year. Nationally, it plans to cut up to a quarter of its staff, according to the Associated Press.
To help, Ogden City hosted an April 23 job fair for federal workers who have lost or are concerned about losing their jobs. Roughly 350 people attended. Three current federal employees told KUER that job security used to be a benefit of working for the government, but their jobs no longer feel secure. A half-dozen said they’re cutting back spending on things like name-brand groceries, meals out and vacations.
This moment of economic uncertainty mirrors Utah as a whole. Consumer sentiment fell 8% in March, according to the Gardner Institute.
Young is living with relatives in Roy to save money on rent. Even so, he said he and his family are limiting spending to necessities like food and gas.
“Family has been good to us, thank God for that. But you know, I don't like being a burden,” he said. He has the added stress of a daughter heading to college soon, but with a savings account for medical costs, those expenses are covered.
Other federal workers are worried about losing their health care benefits.
Kirsa Rhodes said she thought her job at the IRS would be a long-term role. She opted to leave the agency through deferred resignation to avoid being laid off as part of any large reductions in the workforce. Now, as she looks for a new job, she hopes to find one with similar health insurance.
“I have bad knees and no cartilage in either of my hips, so walking is incredibly difficult,” she said. “So working on trying to get, like, the medications and stuff that I need to help with that would basically skyrocket in price without the insurance.”
Rhodes said she’s still comprehending her situation. Young, who’s had more time to think about it, said being unemployed is part of life.
“There's everything that you would expect when you're unemployed, the anxiety, the worries, the concerns, and the long turnaround time to find that next job that you're really happy with.”
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
