Gina, the 57-year-old woman who has run out of unemployment benefits and lives on 200 euros a month: “I’ve been looking for a job my whole life”
Lack of basic education and age become the main obstacles to re-entering the labor market.
Gina, a 57-year-old woman, became unemployed in September after being laid off from a daycare center where she had worked for five years in La Louvière, Belgium. In an interview with Sudinfo, she describes her experience: “I’ve spent my entire life applying for jobs, and I’ve always been rejected for lack of experience. How am I supposed to get experience if no one will let me work?”
Thirty years ago, she lived with her former partner and devoted herself to caring for their children. “I took care of the kids and he went to work, until one day we got divorced,” she recalls.
She just wants to work: the struggle to find a job
Gina does not have a primary school diploma and, after losing her most recent job, she registered for unemployment benefits, although she insists that her only goal is “to find a job as soon as possible.”
To do so, she began applying to all kinds of job postings. “I did everything I was supposed to do, but I never received a positive response. Either they didn’t reply or my profile didn’t match. I even sent follow-up messages, but nothing ever came of it.”
On one occasion, she applied for a domestic worker position and passed the tests, but she was rejected for “lack of experience and not having a car,” something she finds hard to understand because she is “willing to use whatever public transportation is necessary.”
Returning to school
Faced with her lack of formal qualifications, she decided to start over and return to school by taking training courses. “I wanted to earn my diplomas and improve my French, both written and spoken.”
For the past five years, she has been living with her partner, who includes her on his health insurance. Even so, she says she has “only 200 euros a month to live on, with no possibility of saving for emergencies.” She earns that money by working with children under the ALE program and as a paid volunteer.
Over time, she admits she feels increasingly close to giving up. “They only hire young people, and they tell me I’m too old. I’m going around in circles. I’m exhausted,” she says. According to Gina, the job offers she receives do not match her profile, and she feels she will be rejected “from the very first moment.”
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