The small pensions of France, Janine.
Janine, 63, started working at the age of 16 .
I met Janine in 2019. "Since the pandemic, life is even harder. Everything has gone up, especially gas. But without a car, I can't go to work.Added to this is the war in Ukraine, she tells me. Retired since 2018, the resources of her household amount to 1012 €, but her monthly expenses are 1 381 € (rent, water, telephone, heating, etc.).Janine does a small job to make ends meet: she distributes the Courrier Picard very early in the morning in Flixecourt, near Amiens. Her rounds last 6 or 4 hours: either from 2 to 8 am, or from 4 to 8 am because the Courrier Picard has to be in the mailboxes before the subscribers are collected.
She earns 42€ net per day, but her petrol costs 20,82€. Her net salary is therefore 21.18€ per day, for a total of 200€/month.
She says, "I don't get paid the minimum wage but I have no choice, it's the only job I have!" Janine has worked as a truck driver, ambulance driver, cleaning lady, she has always worked to raise her children, her life is hard and she can't do anything. "It's pathetic!" she says. I take the place of a young person, I have to count everything! Janine eats at her daughter's house, goes to a producer in Soues because the meat is cheaper: this allows her to eat a little meat, at the E.Leclerc shopping center, they take the deferred checks, "That helps!" she says. Janine has a dream to buy a motor home. So sometimes, after her rounds, she passes the caravan salesman and looks at them. Then she says, "We can still dream!"
I met Janine in 2019. "Since the pandemic, life is even harder. Everything has gone up, especially gas. But without a car, I can't go to work.Added to this is the war in Ukraine, she tells me. Retired since 2018, the resources of her household amount to 1012 €, but her monthly expenses are 1 381 € (rent, water, telephone, heating, etc.).Janine does a small job to make ends meet: she distributes the Courrier Picard very early in the morning in Flixecourt, near Amiens. Her rounds last 6 or 4 hours: either from 2 to 8 am, or from 4 to 8 am because the Courrier Picard has to be in the mailboxes before the subscribers are collected.
She earns 42€ net per day, but her petrol costs 20,82€. Her net salary is therefore 21.18€ per day, for a total of 200€/month.
She says, "I don't get paid the minimum wage but I have no choice, it's the only job I have!" Janine has worked as a truck driver, ambulance driver, cleaning lady, she has always worked to raise her children, her life is hard and she can't do anything. "It's pathetic!" she says. I take the place of a young person, I have to count everything! Janine eats at her daughter's house, goes to a producer in Soues because the meat is cheaper: this allows her to eat a little meat, at the E.Leclerc shopping center, they take the deferred checks, "That helps!" she says. Janine has a dream to buy a motor home. So sometimes, after her rounds, she passes the caravan salesman and looks at them. Then she says, "We can still dream!"
