Commission for the Wall Street Journal, photographs of Yoann Perrotin and his family, outside Grenoble, for a story concerning the precarity of new jobs in the EU. Story by Daniel Michaels here.
An extract, concerning Yoann:
The temp
“I work only to pay my bills,” said Yoann Perrotin, a 25-year-old finance specialist, soon after starting work at a French bank in Lyon in March.
His position—the kind that once would have set him on a stable career path—was arranged through a temp agency, with the risk of termination on short notice. In Europe, such work is rarely a stepping stone to full-time employment, as it can be in the U.S.
“I can’t plan,” said Mr. Perrotin, who lives in a one-room apartment with his two-year-old son.
Mr. Perrotin’s mother, living comfortably in the foothills of the Alps, never expected that her son would struggle to find steady work. She joined the yellow vest protests last year.
Europe’s growing job insecurity is changing a continent once known for muscular labor rights and stubbornly high unemployment.
For companies, increased hiring flexibility over recent years has helped boost profits or stanch losses. During the financial crisis, for many it was critical to survival. Economists have long called for a more versatile labor market to get Europe’s economy growing again.
At the same time, lackluster consumer demand has left the eurozone dependent on exports. After exports began to weaken this year, the European Central Bank decided to restart economic stimulus programs."
‘We survive’
In France, Mr. Macron held a series of town hall meetings to hear public grievances, a step that helped to defuse the yellow vest movement.
“We don’t live, we survive,” said Chantal Perrotin, who joined the movement near Lyon after seeing the travails of her son, Yoann, the bank worker.
Yoann, who studied finance for two years after high school, applied to banks for work, but his only offer came through the temp agency.
He began in March under a short-duration contract, and soon felt finances pinching. His net monthly salary of about €1300 left him with only about €150 after routine expenses such as rent and foodfor himself, his girlfriend and their son, he said.
Before starting at the bank, Mr. Perrotin had been on unemployment and netted roughly the same amount as his new salary, he said. Employment also carried costs such as suits and car expenses, he said.Having studied finance, Mr. Perrotin said he understands that companies and employment must evolve.
“I’m not interested in having one job for all my life,” he said. “The thing is, we have to develop a way for temporary workers to get loans and benefits,” he said.
Mr. Perrotin said he wanted to buy a house but couldn’t get a mortgage. “Banks don’t give loans to people in temporary jobs,” he said.
In late September, the temp agency told him his contract wouldn’t be renewed.
“I always hoped it would lead to a permanent contract,” he said. “But I was prepared that it might not be the case.”He is now back on unemployment.
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