Jul 21, 2020 - Health

"A very dark feeling": Oklahoma jobless lines look like 1930s

An unemployment line.

Photo: Nick Oxford for The Washington Post via Getty Images

"In Oklahoma, one of the poorest states, unemployment — which reached a record 14.7 percent in April — has pushed many to the point of desperation, with savings depleted, cars repossessed and homes sold for cash," the WashPost's Annie Gowen reports.

  • John Jolley, a 58-year-old single father, "arrived in the parking lot of the River Spirit Expo center in Tulsa around 9 p.m. on a sultry night" for one of the state's "mega-processing events."
  • "Dozens more sat in the parking lot overnight with Jolley, unable to get their questions answered through the unemployment agency’s overloaded phone system."
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