NEW YORK – Billy Swenson is waiting for the callback.

It’s been about 11 months since he was furloughed from his serving job at a Midtown Manhattan restaurant.

At first, the time away from work was a welcome break. Some days before the COVID-19 pandemic, he was on his feet for 12 hours, also working in catering when jobs arose.

Now, things are dragging on. “Unemployment does not scratch the surface of the money we used to make,” he said. “Sitting here making a quarter of what we used to make … that has been very stressful and there’s been not much relief.”

Swenson is one of the thousands