The Washington Post - USA (2022-04-10)

THE WEEK
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ECONOMY

Will LinkedIn’s ‘career break’ feature normalize time away from work? G2

TECHNOLOGY

Rechargeable batteries can cause fires. Here’s how to dispose of them safely. G3

Four more months.
That’s h ow long federal student
loan borrowers h ave before their loan
payments start up again. O r maybe
not.
It’s p ossible another r epayment
reprieve may stretch the loan pause
until t he end o f this y ear. But even i f
that happens, i f you have federal
loans, i t’s time t o start planning for
the d ay w hen your payments will
need to b e m ade.
Here’s w hat you need t o know about t he m ost
recent extension, including major relief for
borrowers w ho were in default b efore t he payment
pauses began.

Has anything changed with the payment pause?

The relief stays the same, c ontinuing t o apply only to
eligible federal student loans. T he extension for
student loan repayment, interest a nd collections
runs until Aug. 3 1.
The pandemic-related payment pause, first
offered in March 202 0 for federal student loans,
includes a zero percent interest rate, suspension of
loan payments a nd s uspension of collection a ctions
on delinquent and defaulted l oans.
SEE COLOR ON G3

The student loan

reprieve won’t last

forever. Get ready.

Michelle

Singletary

THE COLOR
OF MONEY

BY DANIELLE ABRIL

As a remote worker for a year and half during

the pandemic, Lauren Scott had a relatively

relaxed daily routine. The assistant at a media

company in Pennsylvania would wake up

somewhat rested around 7 a.m., change into

comfy clothes, take a walk,

warm up some coffee and log

online for work around 9 a.m.

During breaks throughout the day, she might

start a load of laundry, stretch on the floor to

ease her chronic back pain or step outside for

some fresh air. She would cook herself a hot

lunch and play podcasts in the background as

she worked. At the end of the day, she had time

to take a crack at a new dinner recipe.

But after switching to working three days at

the office as mandated by her employer in

February, she says many of her newfound

benefits dissipated. She now has to get up an

hour earlier to get dressed, put on makeup and

prep her lunch. She spends about an hour

driving t o and from work to avoid public transit,

which she says has more crime and drugs since

the pandemic. She says she feels an unspoken

and self-inflicted pressure to always be at her

desk, cutting out breaks for fresh air and

stretching. And she saves walks, cooking e xperi-

ments, podcasts and chores for the weekend.

SEE HYBRID ON G4

HELP DESK

In adapting to hybrid work, unexpected hurdles

Awkward Zoom meetings, sad desk lunches and forgotten chargers: For many workers, it’s plain exhausting.

THE WASHINGTON POST ILLUSTRATION; ISTOCK

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BusineSS

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 , 2022. SECTION G AX FN FS LF PW DC BD PG AA FD HO MN MS SM

BY ABHA BHATTARAI

C

ourtney Russell loved her job managing a Charleston,

S.C., candy store. But early in the pandemic when her

husband’s cancer returned, she felt she had only one

choice: to quit.

Her husband, Doug Curtin, needed a bone-marrow trans-

plant and months of chemotherapy. But hiring a home nurse,

so she could keep working, seemed risky with rising coronavi-

rus rates in early 2020.

Two years later, the c ouple is getting by f inancially with help

from family. Curtin still needs help showering, walking and

standing, and Russell says it could be years before she

considers looking for work again.

“I thrived in m y job and t o be honest, I don’t d o well when I’m

not working,” s aid Russell, 42, who s pent nearly two decades in

retail after working her way up from a part-time seasonal hire

to store manager. “But ultimately his health comes first.”

Even as the job market rapidly approaches the levels last

seen before the c oronavirus pandemic, a lack o f affordable care

for older and disabled adults is keeping many out of the

workforce. At least 6.6 million people who weren’t working in

early March said it was because they were caring for someone

else, according the most recent Household Pulse Survey from

the Census Bureau. Whether — and when — they return to

work will play a role in the continued recovery and could

reshape the post-covid labor force.

SEE CARE ON G5

Caregiving w ithout a paycheck

A lack of affordable care for older

and disabled adults is keeping

many out of the workforce even as

the j ob market is on a h igh

ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Brooke Day quit her job as a concierge at a D.C. apartment building in October, shortly after her 60-year-old mother suffered a stroke that took away her ability to do even simple things without help.