testimonial Unemployed since 2015, Marc lives on the specific solidarity allowance
“The more it goes, the more my trolley empties,” says Marc, who feels the inflation while shopping. — Canva
- Secours Catholique publishes this Thursday its annual report on poverty in France.
- The latter highlights the increase in the number of long-term unemployed among the people helped by the association.
- Like Marc, 43, unemployed since 2015, who was kind enough to tell his story to 20 Minutes.
Marc was a carpenter. He earned 2,700 euros a month, loved his job, and was proud of his seventeen years of service. in his business. But that was before. Today, this 43-year-old resident of Puy-de-Dôme thinks back with nostalgia about his old life. Because in 2015, he experienced what some modestly call “an accident of life”. A painful separation with his wife, followed by a burnout. “What led me to conclude a mutual agreement with my company to try to rebuild myself,” he confides.
Too badly in shape to look for a job immediately, it was not until 2018 that he managed to find a job. glean some interim assignments. “But when you stopped long to work, recruiters doubt your abilities. And I also admit that I was slower at carrying out the tasks given to me,” he recalls.
“Even buy me a McDo, I can’t afford it”
Despite the support he receives via Pôle emploi, impossible to bounce back. “I was sent an offer of customer adviser, but it did not correspond to my skills. I also did a training course as a building maintenance agent, which only served me well. nothing. I didn’t pick up more interviews after.” Another handicap for Marc: his lack of driving license. “It’s the serpent biting its tail: to apply for the some offers, you have to be mobile. But without a job, I can’t afford to pass my licence,” he comments.
For two years, Marc receives unemployment benefits. But in 2017, it’s over. He then learns what it means to live with a social minimum. For him, it will be the solidarity allowance. specific. “I am hosted at my father’s, which saves me. But once I’ve paid electricity, telephone, Internet and food, I have almost no money by the 5th of the month. Even buying myself a McDo, I can’t afford it,” he confides.
“The more it goes, the emptier my cart”
And Marc dreads the next few months even more: “ inflation. Commodities have increased, it’s maddening. The more çit goes, the more my cart empties.” He is often obliged to to arbitrate in his expenses: either pay his electricity bill, or that of his telephone. “With my 536.95 euros a month, I can’t get by anymore.” So his menus don’t vary much: pasta with tomato sauce or butter, depending on what’s left in his fridge. As for the heating, he hasn’t turned it on for years. “I dress warmly and live with a blanket. proximity.” Lacking money to be able to go out, his social life was reduced to skin of grief. “Since 2017, a lot of friends have deserted. They do not understand that I have come to this. there.”
Worried about him, the social worker following him directed him to to Catholic Relief Services. “The association has helped me. to pay part of my electricity bill, to redo my CV and to grave; get two interviews,” Over the next few days, he will therefore try to get a job as a line driver at Michelin, or another as a green space maintenance agent as part of the “Territoires zéro cheur; long lasting” “I will accept the first job I am offered. I really hope çit will move and that I can buy myself a slice of foie gras for Christmas,” he breathes.