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Homeless families struggling to get by

Page Last Updated: Friday December 18, 2009 7:00am PST

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Victoria Campbell, News 4

Nevada's unemployment rate fell for a second consecutive month in November. It now stands at 12.3 percent. But employment experts say there's a disturbing reason behind the otherwise hopeful figures: Almost 14,000 workers either left the state during that month, or were too discouraged to look for work.

But Jim and Kim Boyd are not among them. The couple and their two young daughters have been struggling to survive since they were laid off from their jobs earlier this year. They spent several months living in a weekly motel.

"Because we both lost our jobs, I went to work for daily work-daily pay, casual labor," said Jim Boyd. "But I was barely making enough to get by, so we lived in a motel where we could pay by the week."

But the cold winter weather brought an end to casual labor, and Kim Boyd was laid off from her job, too. The family ended up in the Family Homeless Shelter.

"It's just the job thing, you know," said Kim Boyd as her eyes filled with tears. "We both want to work. My biggest dream is to work again, and I don't care what it is."

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