A home.

That's what a secretarial job at a small nonprofit company meant for 33-year-old Thu Nguyen.

Nine months after leaving a bad relationship and ending up living in a car with her two young daughters, Nguyen was finally employed last spring and able to rent an apartment.

But in October, Nguyen rejoined the swelling ranks of unemployed Californians. She lost her job as her company strained to remain solvent in tough economic times.

Now she will spend the holidays much like the better part of 2008 – looking for work.

"She's at risk of becoming homeless," said Amber Stott, director of community partnerships for Women's Empowerment, the Sacramento nonprofit that helped Nguyen prepare to re-enter the job force earlier in the year.

"A year ago it would not have been a common story, but it's becoming (one)," Stott said.

Nguyen is among more than 1.56 million unemployed Californians this holiday season, according to figures released Friday. The state's rate is up to 8.4 percent.

"I feel like everyone is in the same hole," Nguyen said on a recent afternoon, sitting in her living room with two sleeping girls sprawled across the couch and garage sale toys filling the small space.

Nguyen left a bad relationship in July 2007. She managed to get a number of housing vouchers, which she used to stay in motels. But it wasn't enough. Nguyen resorted to sleeping in shelters and some nights in her car.

In October 2007, she found Family Promise of Sacramento, a shelter and program for homeless families. Around the same time, she started taking job-readiness classes at Women's Empowerment, another nearby nonprofit group.

For months Nguyen spent each day hunting for work – Craigslist, The Bee's classified ads, state job postings, bulletin boards at Women's Empowerment and more. She sent out more than 100 applications and got one interview for a job she didn't get.

"It was very disappointing because I knew when I applied for a job, at least 1,000 other people were applying for it," Nguyen said.

In April, Green Plumbers USA, a nonprofit group that educates plumbers on environmental concerns and eco-friendly techniques, interviewed Nguyen and hired her immediately. She was ecstatic.

"I loved it. I was getting back. Starting from scratch," she said. "I had a good boss."

In May, she rented a small apartment in South Natomas for $850 a month and began restoring a home life for herself and Amelie, 4, and Mia, 2.

On Oct. 17, she spent the morning with her daughter Amelie's preschool class on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. That afternoon she returned to work and was called into a meeting with two other recent hires and her boss.

The speech, as Nguyen tells it, was unremarkable – the sort of speech thousands with car payments and rents and Christmas dinners to buy have heard since the start of the recession:

The economy was bad; the company would need to restructure; positions would be eliminated.

Nguyen received the worker's equivalent of "it's not you, it's me." Once again, she was without a job.

"This was the easiest layoff I'd seen," said Nguyen, whose chipper voice and bubbly personality belie her tough situation.

Now what?

Nguyen is back on the job hunt. She pulled Amelie out of preschool because she can't afford it. She wants to move to an even smaller, cheaper apartment but can't.

A new landlord would ask for proof of income, and she has none. Nguyen can, however, renew her lease because landlords typically don't ask returning tenants to update income information.

Nguyen only needs a few classes to graduate from California State University, Sacramento, with a degree in liberal studies. That would augment her years of experience as an administrative assistant.

She wants to return to school next fall and hopes she can take out loans – she's heard she can borrow up to $20,000 for the year – to get by with a part-time job.

In the meantime, she's teaching herself Dreamweaver, a Web site design program, as well as Photoshop.

Nguyen also will enroll in community college this spring, although she's worried the state will take away her unemployment assistance if she goes back to school.

She could go on welfare, although she doesn't want to.

"I don't want a handout. I'm looking for a job," she said.

She's not, however, too proud to make sure her girls have a nice Christmas. Nguyen enrolled in the Adopt-A-Family program and was "adopted" by a group of 11 workers from Teledyne, a tech company in Rancho Cordova.

On Friday, several stopped by to deliver presents, streaming back and forth from their cars with loads of brightly wrapped gifts that eventually formed a wall almost obscuring the small, green plastic Christmas tree in the corner of the cramped living room.

"This is going to be the best holiday ever," Nguyen said.

Walter Hammock, a Teledyne employee, helped organize the gift gathering. While he and other company employees have adopted families for the past six years, this year they are more aware of the need: About 30 Teledyne workers also have been laid off, Hammock said.

"Even at my church there are people that are hurting," he said.

After 20 minutes or so of laughter and small talk and homemade sugar cookies, the Teledyne workers said goodbye and wished Nguyen and her family a merry Christmas.

Nguyen hugged Hammock.

"Thank you so much," she said, pausing to add with just a touch of humor, "Can I e-mail you my résumé?"

Call The Bee's Robert Lewis, (916) 321-1061.