WASHINGTON – Wayne Ryan is sleeping on a futon on the floor of his empty mobile home. He hocked his DVDs and CDs for food money. The unemployed carpenter from Bonney Lake hasn’t had a job in 14 months. His unemployment ran out weeks ago. He says he’s just about hit rock bottom.

“I’m reading the Bible a lot more to keep from killing myself,” said Ryan.

Gaye Hoese, a 59-year-old single mom in Tacoma, had worked for the same company in IT system support for 16 years before being laid off more than a year ago. She survived four rounds of layoffs at the company, but got caught in the fifth. She’s overqualified for some jobs, under-qualified for others.

She’s been able to pay her mortgage, car payments and medical bills by raiding her savings. But the savings are nearly exhausted.

Ryan and Hoese are among the nearly 331,000 unemployed in Washington state. A year ago there were fewer than 200,000.

Theirs are the faces behind the numbers. They shared their stories of being down and out through no fault of their own as Congress considers whether to extend unemployment benefits for a third time since the recession began.

The Senate is expected to act this week on extending the benefits for 14 weeks, with an additional six weeks for states whose unemployment rate is above 8.5 percent. With an unemployment rate of 9.3 percent, Washington state would qualify. The House earlier passed a less generous version; the two bills will have to be reconciled.

The unemployed in Washington now receive up to 79 weeks of benefits.

Unless Congress acts, 1.4 million people could lose their benefits by the end of the year, including 18,000 in Washington state. Meanwhile, there are no signs of a recovery in the job market.

Since late 2007, 145,000 jobs in Washington state have disappeared – roughly 1 in 20. The average search for a new job in the state lasts more than six months.

Which sectors have been hit hardest?

“It’s been pretty much across the board,” said Sheryl Hutchison of the Washington State Employment Security Department. The state has lost one-quarter of its manufacturing jobs and 18 percent of its construction jobs.

One of the encouraging signs in an overall bleak economy, Hutchison said, is that the unemployment rate in Washington state has not been growing as rapidly as the national rate. The national unemployment rate was 9.8 percent in September.

Even so, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said during Senate debate Tuesday that it was critical for Congress to act quickly.

“These workers are not asking for a handout, they are just asking for a small measure of support as they try to get back on their feet,” Murray said. “We cannot sit by as working families are pushed to the brink by a financial crisis they didn’t create but are still paying for.”

Ryan was among those mentioned by Murray in earlier comments on the floor. He and hundreds of other people have written Murray, urging her to push for an extension of unemployment benefits.

Ryan had been working since he was 18 years old, first at a furniture factory in Auburn and later framing houses in Tacoma.

“I’ve always worked,” he said. But he was laid off 14 months ago, and despite sending out 200 résumés and making 600 phone contacts, he has yet to find a job.

In part, Ryan blames low-wage Mexican and Russian carpenters who he says are taking all the jobs in the Tacoma area. But he also said he sensed years ago that the housing market was becoming a bubble that was going to burst.

Ryan has been a nonunion carpenter, but he said when he recently sought to join a union, they wouldn’t even accept his application fee because there weren’t enough jobs for current members.

Since losing his job, Ryan, 46, said he has sold all his furniture, except for the futon and an electric piano. While he owns his mobile home, he’s behind on the rent for the land it sits on. When he doesn’t have money to eat, he seeks assistance at a food bank.

“I am at the end of my rope. I don’t know what I am going to do,” Ryan said.

Hoese said her house is now worth less than her mortgage, but she can’t refinance because she doesn’t have a job. She’s been thinking of going back to school, but she probably wouldn’t qualify for loans to finance further education.

“Over the last six months I’ve been getting scared,” said Hoese, who has worked since she was 15. “I’m too old for this. I’m an intelligent woman, I have experience, I have an education. There must be something out there.”

“What are the chances of winning the Lotto?” she asked.

Les Blumenthal: 202-383-0008

lblumenthal@mcclatchydc.com