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It's likely during the next few weeks, months, or even years there will be a large number of people that find themselves suddenly unemployed as a result of COVID-19.

I think we should set up a community wiki with resources for those that find themselves suddenly no longer part of the workplace, with an emphasis on COVID-19.

I'm imagining there will be quite a few "I lost my job cause of COVID-19, what do I do?" and having an single location to point to may be useful.

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    What about multiple jurisdictions? The options available to anyone losing their job over the next few months is going to vary wildly from one country to the next. – HorusKol Mar 20 '20 at 6:32
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    But will there be a single answer? What answer could help a steel mill worker in Ohio and a Butcher in Japan and a Project Manager in France? – nvoigt Mar 20 '20 at 6:55
  • @HorusKol Of course. (I don't think we should have multiple wikis if that is what you are asking) – Gregory Currie Mar 20 '20 at 6:56
  • @nvoigt Even though they are different industries (and countries), there may be commonalities, in terms of government handouts, etc. So while there may not specific advice for an individual, there can be general things for people to look at. In addition, it may be a handy place to list links to any government material that has been released for the different countries. I personally would feel a little bad about closing a question without linking to something that can help the person, and I think the wiki may be the thing to do it. – Gregory Currie Mar 20 '20 at 7:00
  • @nvoigt But an answer per country kinda makes sense to me too. But I do think there are general tips going forward. This page has information that is useful generally, but also specific to Australia, for instance: finder.com.au/coronavirus-lost-job-help – Gregory Currie Mar 20 '20 at 7:10
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    Generally it would be... lost your job?.... find another job. – Kilisi Mar 20 '20 at 11:05
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    @Kilisi I feel really happy for you that it is that simple for you. But for others, it's not the case. – Gregory Currie Mar 20 '20 at 11:30
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    It's a nice thought, but I'm not sure a "single answer" is feasible, unless it's extremely generalized. – Joe Strazzere Mar 20 '20 at 12:05
  • @JoeStrazzere FWIW with some trickery system allows to set up a "canonical" question with more than one answer. There is a collaborative effort lock feature that formally seems to allow only one answer but I think I saw it in questions with few answers as well. My understanding is, if moderator applies this lock at question with more than one answer, these are kept and stay available for community maintenance, while no more answers are allowed for adding (except for when moderator temporarily retracts the lock to allow for adding new answer) – gnat Mar 20 '20 at 16:14
  • @gnat - maybe I don't understand your point. I was trying to say that one canonical answer that could cover all the varied questions about unemployment and COVID-19 in all the different locales seems impractical. I don't see this as a "system" thing, more a "content" thing. – Joe Strazzere Mar 20 '20 at 16:25
  • @JoeStrazzere my point is if moderators agree to be involved in maintaining it, we can use system to have several answers under such a "canonical" question and keep it under control, so that it won't explode into some unresonable amount, like 50, 100 (that would make it too difficult for site visitors to obtain useful information) – gnat Mar 20 '20 at 18:11
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    @gnat - I understand. I don't see the value in that. – Joe Strazzere Mar 20 '20 at 20:46
  • @JoeStrazzere this week I had a chance to find value in controlling amout of questions twice. At my job I had problems that turned out addressed in Stack Overflow questions - which is generally normal - but it turned out that questions I stumbled upon this week just happened to have over 20 answers each. It was a nightmare to find solution that worked to me. I guess you need to learn considering things how these could look for a typical site visitor who is searching for solution to their problem – gnat Mar 20 '20 at 20:50
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    @gnat - I guess I value answering peoples' questions more than limiting them. – Joe Strazzere Mar 20 '20 at 21:14
  • @JoeStrazzere I think we have incompatible interests then (though more in the context of SO because I rarely have workplace related questions). I simply can't afford approach of dumping my question to some "volunteer helpdesk" and waiting while some good samaritan comes and helps me (apparently risking that they won't come at all because volunteers are free to decide). When I have questions, I need to have answers ready and preferably easy to understand. If I find nothing at the page I'm looking at I simply close it and go to next one in Google results... – gnat Mar 20 '20 at 21:30
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Echoing the comments - this is a great initiative. Given the content is specific to geographies and governments, there are likely 3-5 separate answers that we should start with. My suggestion would be to base those on where our users currently come from - perhaps the users with access to the analytics can share our top countries.

Some minimum content for each might be:

  • Links to official resources for the jobless (e.g., where to file a jobless claim)
  • Links to official resources for financial relief and assistance (e.g., government protections for homeowners and renters)
  • Links to some top answers about job searching and dealing with layoffs, both as an employee and employer
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This is a waste of time. Governments and local institutions will publish or are already publishing and updating locale specific Information, from what I have seen it's being published in multiple ways. tv, radio etc,. as well as official sites. We cannot do a better job at third hand. Those will be the first recourse of anyone seeking 'real' knowledge. Anyone coming here first is an idiot or troll.

So the canonical answer would be "Check your local govt for information."

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    My government doesn't have a single website, so it's a bit unclear, which one to go to. Actually, I googled "COVID-19 lost job australia" (and permutations) and I couldn't find anything from the government. I could find a lot regarding the actual virus itself, but not about losing your job, welfare, etc. If there was a stack exchange article addressing this, it wouldn't have been a waste of time for me. – Gregory Currie Mar 21 '20 at 2:59
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    The entire website is a waste of time with that logic :) Expert advice, concentrated in one place, et cetera et cetera... – rath Mar 21 '20 at 15:48
  • @rath could be, but definitely so for corona virus which is an extremely temporary issue. It's new to many here, but some of us have been through multiple epidemics and country lock downs. It's not the black plague where 30% of the pop will die. It's a one off situation where by it's nature no one is an expert. – Kilisi Mar 21 '20 at 16:12
  • @Kilisi, this is not an "extremely temporary" issue, the repercussions are going to last for many months. But yes, you're right about other places being better for immediate logistical and bureaucratic concerns that are specific to a locale. However, I expect there will be many interesting questions about careers and the workplace problems caused by this pandemic. – teego1967 Mar 22 '20 at 17:50
  • @teego1967 this is my third epidemic involving lockdown in 5 years, life goes on.... so, not months... repercussions blend in pretty quickly. Our govts instructions are, don't hang out in groups, wash your hands, pray more. – Kilisi Mar 22 '20 at 23:15
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    @Kilisi, you are lucky, I suppose, if this is no big deal for you and it's just another routine epidemic. Unfortunately, this particular one involves entire global supply chains being put on hold. I am going to take a wild guess that, maybe, your point-of-view is an extreme outlier. – teego1967 Mar 23 '20 at 12:47
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    @teego1967 put on hold is correct, not cut altogether. I do understand your viewpoint, but no point getting melodramatic, people are resilient. If you mean the economic structure is breaking down, I think you're wrong, but maybe. Lets hope not, because that would mean war. In terms of the question posed my answer is correct. – Kilisi Mar 23 '20 at 18:27

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