By David Cox
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The coronavirus pandemic has left millions of Americans out of work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment in March rose to total 7.1 million people in the country who are jobless.
Many of those are self-employed, like Kim Randolph.
Randolph rents a booth at Worren’s Salon in Little Rock. She has been out of work since March 25th, when Governor Asa Hutchinson ordered the closure of all barbershops, tattoo parlors and hair salons until further notice.
Randolph said she expressed frustration at the order, but said she understands why the decision was made.
“I was hurt, I was mad, I was furious,” she said, “but, on the other hand, I didn’t want to get anybody sick.”
Pulaski County is the hardest hit area in the state, with more than 130 confirmed infections.
Randolph said working from home or in a client’s home isn’t allowed, and that she runs the risk of having her cosmetology license suspended for two years if reported doing so.
“I’ve worked 40 years for my license and my career, and I do not want to lose two years of income,” Randolph said.
On March 27th, the $2 trillion stimulus package was signed into law. The CARES act includes benefits that self-employed workers wouldn’t originally qualify for and a $10,000 advance if they take out an Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
Even though she qualifies for these benefits, Randolph said she won’t apply for them.
“I’d rather take my chances and use up what I’ve got saved up and go from there,” Randolph said. “By the time we would get around to getting money, the stimulus would probably be already out.”
Randolph said her inability to work could cause her to lose thousands of dollars of income, depending on how long the closure lasts.
“If it goes on for months, it could be quite a bit,” Randolph said. “I might have to go to Walmart, I might have to go to Dollar General and start to work, but I don’t want to.”
Randolph said she wants to get back to work as soon as possible, but said she thinks it may be a long time before she can work in a salon again.
“If the virus is cured, or if they contain it and we all follow rules, that would be OK too,” Randolph said, “but we’re going to have to do something, because there’s a lot of people out of work.”