When a worker gets laid-off, everyone in the family has been laid-off, and everyone has a big adjustment to make.

The partner who has been at home, or working to provide a second income, may have to become the main provider. For some women this is now a difficult change in their lives at a time when their partners are struggling to find a new job and a new place in the family.

Single Parents
Single parents, most of them women, may have the hardest time of all.  There isn't a partner to bring in another salary and there isn't anyone else to help take care of the house and look after the children while they are out looking for work.  Losing the only source of income, even for a little while, can be terrifying. 

It Is Hard to See the Other Side
It is hard for the people who have been at home to understand how difficult it is to go through a lay-off.  They know how their lives are affected, but unless they think about it a lot, and unless there is a chance to talk about it, they don't see the whole picture.

On the other hand, those who have been laid-off are so concerned with what they are going to do next, how they are going to deal with the crisis, that they don't notice that the people around them are going through the crisis too.  Everyone is scared, and everyone needs to have their fears listened to.

A Time for Patience
Through all the years at work, everyone knew what to expect in the family.  Now all the familiar ways have changed.  Tensions in the family were kept under control by the day to day pattern of living.  Now that this pattern is gone, old tensions, as well as new ones, may come to the surface.