Finance Wanted.

By Huldah Jones

According to U.S. Labor Department statistics, nationwide 17,000 employees were fired or laid off during January alone.

Components of Your Layoff

Employment

• Statistics are not given for the number of families that includes, but to be sure a very large percentage were heads of families. It is important for you the fired employee to be prepared for the emotional effects of the lay off on your family as well as on you.

• The current concerns over possible global financial crisis or recession might have an effect on how long you might be unemployed.

• If you were a long-time employee with seniority It's possible hiring policies for future employment might change in your field because of current economic conditions.

• The huge number of layoffs occurring at the same time nationally might have positive and negative effect on your layoff.

Essentials: Food and Clothes Shopping

• Use your severance check wisely when stocking the pantry. Avoid emotional shopping otherwise,"WOW! Those chocolate-covered artichokes filled with pralines look great, beside, I just got laid off and I need to treat myself." might appear to be essential.

• Mall window-shopping may have been a fun, free family activity while employed but it is not a good idea when broke. Think about it! Store after store you see items you cannot buy. It can set off a flutter of emotions you don't need right now.

Essentials: Keep an Eye on Emotional Well-Being for the Family

• Job layoff or sudden financial loss is a family matter; everyone in the family is affected by the unexpected intrusion causing not only much inconvenience, but also much anxiety and stress.

• If the lay off becomes prolonged the consequence of the layoff puts strain on family relationships. the loss of income and status can be emotionally draining and stressful.

• As the family continues to bear up under the hardship it is important for the spouse of the laid off employee to be ready to monitor the emotional health of the family; the laid off employee might be too absorbed in his or her own issues during this time and might fail to see a problem in its infancy.

• The best outlet for the family's anxious and fretful moments is prayer within the family dialogue gatherings. Make sure to plan them often enough so that pent-up feelings don't explode.

Huldah Jones, a Vision Therapist, retired as Technical Director of the Orthoptic Center, Helene Fuld Medical Center in New Jersey. She writes more on surviving Job Loss and Financial Stress at http://www.quietmysoul.com