NPR is following six people in the St. Louis area who started 2011 unemployed and searching for work. They are keeping audio diaries to document their experience.
Zumba is a fitness craze; a high-energy dance and exercise program. You can find it in high-end gyms and even the community center in Hazelwood, Mo., where Casaundra Bronner, 40, lives.
For the long-term unemployed, getting a job isn't always the end of the story.
Randy Howland spent most of this past year working at a $10-an-hour customer service job. He used to make six figures. With this job, he was settling, just so he could have the satisfaction of working. It was essentially a call-center job.
Being unemployed for more than two years changed the way Ray Meyer looks at politics. He has always leaned Republican and used to have little sympathy for those who were receiving unemployment benefits.
Like some 14 million Americans, the people in our series The Road Back to Work started the year unemployed and searching for a job.
Back in January, we gave six people, all living in St. Louis, Mo., digital recorders and asked them to document their experience as they went through the process of looking for a job.
In the months since Randy Howland, 51, was first hired as a customer service representative, his excitement having a job — any job — has turned to defeat.
"This is an anniversary day," says Randy into a recorder he's using to keep audio diaries for NPR's Road Back to Work series. "I've had my $10 an hour job now for four months."
