New Yorkers Have Been Trying to Call for Unemployment for Weeks. Now They’re Running Out of Money.

One laid-off New Yorker says he's called the New York State Department of Labor at least 2,000 times in the last two weeks. Another says, on Thursday, she called over 300 times. No answer. Now both are running out of cash, and don't know how they're going to pay their rent.

New Yorkers are applying for unemployment in record numbers -- more than 450,000 in the last two weeks. But whether they receive it is a different story. A Labor Department requirement that the unemployed call to verify their details before claiming insurance -- coupled with a huge overload of its system -- is leaving many

New Yorkers feeling helpless and financially vulnerable as the coronavirus crisis drags on.

These are their stories.