AMONG the new wave of jobless Jamaicans are very skilled, qualified and trained professionals, many of whom even called the shots in some of the country’s most established companies.

They have houses, cars and other creature comforts that, without the usual monthend paycheque, they may end up losing. But for the past two or so weeks, these former nine-to-fivers with whom the Observer spoke have been forced into making lifestyle changes, in order to cope with the pain and uncertainty of life after redundancy.

With financial obligations ranging from mortgage, student loan repayments to utility bills, and with their income stream practically dry or will soon be, they are employing strategies to cut back on spending, such as switching from post-paid mobile phone contracts to trading in their cars for less expensive models.

Anthony, who asked that his surname be withheld to avoid embarrassment, was hit especially hard as his wife who worked at a home and garden centre, had her position made redundant a few weeks before his was.

“I am going to turn in the car because I can’t really manage that right now. That expense we can do without,” says the former employee of a well-known financial institution. “Maybe we’ll buy something less expensive that doesn’t come with a loan to pay back.”

His car payments amount to $28,000 per month, but combined with a $10,000 mortgage, $12,000 instalments on his bank loan, $8,000 per month for lunch and travelling expenses for his teenaged daughter, and the usual utility payments, it is too much for him to bear, Anthony says.

“Because it’s both of us, it kinda knock the wind out of you. I’m still in shock. For February and March, we will be able to maybe pay them (bills) but come April, May, June it’s going to be rough. For right now we’re living off savings,” Anthony discloses.

The redundancy money wasn’t much in the first place and he estimated it might not last beyond “two or three months max”. Worse yet, the couple only bought their two-bedroom home last August.

“If things don’t work out, we might lose it, but we can’t afford to let that happen. Before we do dat we move back into a family setting and rent it out and use the rent to pay the mortgage,” he tells the Observer.

From communication consultant Delroy Whyte-Hall’s perspective, losing the financial security afforded by his nine-to-five is not the hardest part of being laid off. It is adjusting to a lifestyle not cushioned by the creature comforts of the previous one.

There is no more laptop and no company vehicle, and while the loss of the miniature gadget may not have a drastic effect since he does own a desktop PC, taking the bus has been a real culture shock given that he had not used public transportation in the past 15 years.

“The other day I went on a JUTC executive bus and everybody seemed to be looking at me and laughing. I sat down and the driver looked at me and said ‘boss man yuh not paying?’ I said ‘here’s the money’ and he said ‘we don’t use cash, we use smart cards’. It was the lady beside me who came to my rescue by using her card to pay my fare and I gave her the $130 in cash,” he relates, making light of the matter.

“Even though you listen to the news and you hear that they would be introducing the cashless system, you take it for granted because you’ve never thought that you would be thrust into a situation like that so you weren’t prepared,” he adds.

Delroy is thinking of buying another car but has decided to continue taking the bus until he has more certain income: “That sense of freedom and mobility is no longer there. (But) it’s not the end of the world. Other people are doing it so I can do the same thing too until things start working out where I can get enough assignments so I can save enough money and purchase another vehicle.”

But he stands to lose his house too, if the communications business into which he’s pumping some of his redundancy money, doesn’t take off soon. And even at that, “I’m not even thinking about it because when you put God in charge of everything, there is no doubt, no worry. God is going to see you through”, he consoles himself.

Delroy earned a monthly salary of $150,000, which covered mortgage of $25,000; child’s school fee of $50,000 per term; light $2,500; water $1,200; two mobile phones $7,000; health insurance of $2,047 and life insurance of $5,735. With all of those, Delroy thinks the money from the redundancy should tide him over for another six to eight months.

Thirty-year-old Arlene is luckier. She lives at home with her parents and so doesn’t pay rent or mortgage. But she does have student loan and car payments. She may eventually have to trade in her car, she acknowledges. However, her first move is to switch to buying phone credit to reduce her $3,000 post-paid phone bill each month.

“I am concerned about how all of my obligations are gonna be met, like my bills and my car loan and student loan but I try not to look beyond maybe the next six weeks, maybe to next month end because I know I have a cushion with the redundancy money. But when I start to think beyond that, then I start to worry. So I try to not think about it, you know. One day at a time.

“Right now, my car payment is $19,000 but that is at the 10 per cent staff rate. Interest rates have gone up since January so I’ll be paying like 24 per cent from now…The main thing is that I don’t have to worry about rent. I’ve never had to worry about rent and so now it actually is one less thing to worry about. I’m better off than a lot of other people so I have a lot more reason to be more positive. I don’t have kids, I’m not obligated to pay any major bills.”

Like Anthony and Arlene, Delroy’s life changed when he was summoned into his boss’s office one day in early January and given a letter saying he no longer had a job. Unlike them, however, he is not sending out applications but has reverted to a communications business he was running before taking up the position as communications boss at a non-profit organisation four years ago.

“I have skills that are marketable. I am a skilled photographer. I’m also a trained journalist so I can offer my services as a publicist or as a photographer. What I’m offering is public relations and communications services including corporate photography and wedding photography,” he says.

For their part, Arlene and Anthony are equally positive that things will work out in their favour very soon, albeit through different means.

Says Arlene: “At the end of the day I have to have a positive attitude. I’d sit at home and mope and be depressed if I were to look at the landscape and think about the fact that everybody is being laid off and that there are many persons looking for the job that I’m looking for. It’s just about being positive.”

Anthony has also had one job interview but says he is very aware of the no-vacancy signs. “Still, there’s a little light there. I might go into a little business. It’s still on the drawing board but some juices or food items, things you know will move fast,” he says.

In the meantime, as more and more jobs are cut in this harsh economic environment, Delroy has some advice for people who still have their jobs: “My mistake was that I didn’t put in place some sort of contingency plan and I wasn’t being prepared; it was an immediate situation.”

In spite of all the setbacks, however, he is determined to make it.

“Before all this happened, I told myself this year was going to be the best year of my life and I’m determined to make it happen.”