Unemployment diary: I’m a 46-year-old service supervisor in South Carolina who’s been out of work since May

• The Unemployed States of America takes readers deep inside the decimated American workforce.
• Tyrone Baker is a 46-year-old service supervisor based in Florence, South Carolina.
• Baker was laid off from his job as a lube supervisor in May, but has been waiting 13 weeks for his unemployment benefits to come in. 
• He says without government assistance, he lost his health insurance and is unable to pay for basic necessities like food and gas money.  
• This is his story, as told to Robin Kavanagh.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

I’m a lead lube technician with 25 years of experience, and I’ve been waiting 13 weeks for unemployment benefits. In May, when our governor was opening up the economy after a month of living under a “work or home” order, I was laid off from my job as a lube supervisor at Florence Toyota. Eleven of my friends also lost their jobs around that time. 

I filed for unemployment and started looking for work.

I haven’t found anything that pays well for someone with my level of skill. I also haven’t gotten any financial support from the state or federal government.

I’m struggling badly financially.

I have no money, no job, barely any food, and no gas money to find work. I lost my health insurance, which I relied upon to help manage my depression. Without prescription coverage, the cost of a single medication alone has jumped from $10 per month to $307. 

I’ve worked hard since I was 16 years old, and it hurts that the government is not here for me when I need it. Overall, I think the government could do a lot better for its citizens than it has. It was a mistake for the governor to start pulling back restrictions in May. So many more people got sick after the state opened again. I’m afraid we won’t have treatments or a cure before even more die.  

I want to know how and why can’t I get any help for me or my kids or my grandchildren? I love them and they don’t understand what’s going on in the world. I try to guide them and teach them the right things. But how can we help third-world countries and drop the ball when it comes to our people at home?

The government failed America. 

I'm not giving up, though. My kids lost their mother last year and I need to be strong for them. So I keep pushing because I know it's going to be all right.