“I have 63 years and almost 40 quotes. I’m about to take a nap [para la jubilación]But now I have the hardest part. Why me age It’s very difficult to be rehired.” That’s how he introduces himself JosephThe Barcelona native is a working SUV. At this age, this is not the first time he has seen current inflation levels and is not suffering from them. The oil crisis of the ’80s caught him in the job market, working in what was then known as a veteran industrialist. Spain’s entry into the common European market and the accompanying deindustrialization overthrew Spain and reinvented itself in logistics. He specialized, he managed to overcome the 2008 crisis, but the epidemic broke out and “they kicked me“, to remember.
He has been unemployed for the past two years and has saved several short-term temporary contracts as a janitor. “You have an age lock. A great resume, you have it all, but companies don’t call you because of your age, even if they say otherwise. They don’t value experienceFeeling that there are still things to contribute and not giving you the opportunity is one of the most recurring regrets among veterans who lost their jobs at the end of their professional careers.Impotence“This is how José defines it. “You wouldn’t understand what it means to be unemployed until you were unemployed, because you hadn’t realized it before and thought ‘it wouldn’t happen to me’. At first I felt foreign“, Add.
Stress, suffering, depression or anxiety are some of the symptoms of not being able to find a job or being in bad shape. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, mental health services have gained an edge it hasn’t had before. Insecurity is a triggering and aggravating physical discomfort that has not historically been associated with it. So much so that the Ministry of Labor is preparing a report on this relationship between the two countries, with the expectation that it will be published before the end of the year. labor shortage and spirit.
Lorien28 years old and industrial designerArrived just a month ago from Venezuela with her husband to get an internship as a traumatologist at a renowned hospital in Barcelona. They sold everything they had there to start a new life in the Catalan capital – “we spent many years working to get our little house,” he recalls. That left them with a mattress to last four months at the cost of living in Barcelona.
“Every euro you spend is causing you great suffering. My wife doesn’t get paid for the internship, so we both pay nothing. We don’t have that little end-of-the-month light that makes you say at the end of the month, ‘I’m already taking and getting it’. Pay what I spend. It’s all expenses,” says the young man. woman.
JulianThe 29, arrived from Colombia a little less than a year ago to seek opportunities and escape threats of blackmail with his wife. Currently, without a work permit, his title and work experience are of no use to him. Engineer of mechatronicsIt is a profession demanded by companies. “It’s so frustrating. After seven years of training… I came to a country to paint houses, to carry rubble, to bake bread… I don’t have a problem, honest professions, but I didn’t work for it and it hits,” the Julian account.
In ‘B’, he takes all the work that comes his way, waiting to get his situation in order. Many watches are uninsured or with no guarantee that they will call you back. Conditions that pay the price physically and mentally. “I’m trying to see it as something temporary. “This is a matter of resistance,” he said.
José, Lorien and Julián see that the world continues to spin, everything moves in their eyes and they remain motionless. They say “doing nothing” but they don’t stop all day. Although it may seem unpretentious from the outside, looking for a job is a very energy-intensive pursuit. “You have to find a way to help yourself. Designer, waiter, clerk… it doesn’t matter. Breaking up continues and not calling you creates a lot of stress. My husband goes to the grocery store. He’s in the hospital, but I’m alone, I’m not doing anything, and there comes a time when it makes you bloodless. leaving,” Lorien explains.
“When you’re unemployed, the days are endless, you feel like time is more valuable than ever and you’re not taking advantage of it,” says Julián. “To work, Independent. And when you’re not working, you’re a burden to other people. My cousin who greeted us when we arrived, I get the feeling that they stopped doing something just because we were here. They have a little girl and I think they stop going to the movies because we can’t afford it and they don’t want to bother us,” Lorien explains.
Merged by T’Acompanyem
José, Lorien and Julian got together. accompany, an association that helps the unemployed on Biscaia street in Barcelona. Both to find a new one, and by the way. They talk about their grief, share how they feel, and realize that not being able to find a job is often the result of a lack of opportunities, not bad personal decisions. It is an oxygen cylinder, a life saver when the forces fail, they clash.
“When someone says there are ‘only’ three million unemployed, their faces must drop with embarrassment. three million people He blames José, who is upset when listening to the stories of Lorien and Julián, who has “stories and many problems”. Both of his daughters had to leave their country to find a life. Today he has good jobs in Switzerland. Driver at a well-known multinational city transport company It’s a new job. It’s far from the job of his life. He says, “It’s tough,” given the knowledge of having another job a year ago. But that’s what he does. “After a year, with what I can save, I’m going to Blanes for a week to see my girls instead of going to the beach. At this point, I don’t want to be a burden to them.”