What is a Dislocated Worker or Displaced Homemaker?

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Mark Kantrowitz

By Mark Kantrowitz

May 9, 2020

A dislocated worker is someone who is unemployed and eligible to receive unemployment benefits. They must have experienced an involuntary job loss or layoff and satisfy any of the following criteria.

  • They are unlikely to return to a previous industry or occupation
  • The job loss or layoff is due to a plant, facility or business closure or substantial layoff
  • They are the spouse of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces and the job loss or underemployment is due to relocation of the Servicemember

Dislocated works can include people who have exhausted unemployment benefits or were ineligible for unemployment benefits because of insufficient earnings or because their employer isn’t covered under their state’s unemployment compensation law.

Self-employed individuals, including farmers, ranchers and fishermen, may also qualify if they are unemployed because of “general economic conditions in the community in which the individual resides or because of natural disasters.” The coronavirus pandemic qualifies as a natural disaster.

A displaced homemaker is a stay-at-home mother or father who unemployed or underemployed and who is no longer financially supported by their spouse. Displaced homemakers can also include someone who provided unpaid servicers to family members in the family home, not just a stay-at-home parent.

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