For them, the end of the month is always difficult. If the average retirement pension in France amounted to 1,400 euros net per month at the end of 2020, according to a study of the Ministry of Social Affairs (Drees), some retirees are far from reaching this amount. First, those who do not receive a full pension (ie a pension calculated on the basis of 50% of their average annual gross salary).
There are several reasons why some retirees have not validated all their quarters: they have interrupted their activity for several years to raise their children or help a loved one, have not found a job at the end of their career, have started working late… C This is the case of Françoise, 68, who responded to our call for witnesses: “My pension amounts to 1,009 euros, including my supplementary pension. I didn’t have enough quarters,” explains this former shopkeeper.
“I dare not divulge the showing of my pension to my friends”
It is also sometimes choppy careers, with passages between wage-earning, entrepreneurship and unemployment, which explain the fact that some French people have not contributed enough. Like Marie, 70, who nevertheless started working at 20 and receives a pension that does not even reach 1,000 euros. “I spent fifteen years in the same company. Then I was unemployed for a year, before starting ambulance training and working part-time. I then opened a fast food restaurant which I managed for two years, then a bar which I ran for four years. I ended up with 155 quarters validated, while I needed 161 to leave at full rate. »
Among these recipients of a low pension, women are overrepresented. Still according to the DREES study, 44% of women of the 1950 generation thus retired with an incomplete career, compared to 32% among men. Because they more often hold part-time jobs and sometimes take a break for several years to raise their children. This is the case of Betty, 69, who is now paying the price: “I dare not divulge the showing of my pension to my friends, it seems so implausible to me. I receive a pension of 250 euros for twenty-two years of contribution. We had two children and if I made the decision not to continue working, it was to devote myself to their education. I do not find the amount of my pension very fair compared to that of my husband, ”she believes.
“I have to work part-time to compensate”
Patricia, 61, who is about to retire, also knows that she will have to tighten her belt. “I’m going to have to live with a pension of 450 euros, because I stopped working to raise my 3 children,” she worries.
And some, receiving a miserable pension, have no choice but to get back in the saddle. Françoise is therefore forced to work: “I can’t do otherwise, because I don’t receive any social assistance. I therefore carry out missions as an auxiliary of life and hours of cleaning in a private establishment ”. Yamina, 62, is expected to enjoy her retirement. But living alone and not having validated all her quarters, she was forced to continue an activity: “My pension is 342 euros. I have to work part-time to compensate. But it’s very complicated because I’m hard of hearing and I have osteoarthritis. Brigitte, 73, who worked for the town hall of Toulon until she was 66, was unable to rest in the sun afterwards. “I am a tenant. To be able to pay all my bills, I took up a job in a store until I was 70 years old. I was up all day. Today I am exhausted and poor. I will not go to a retirement home, I prefer to throw myself off a bridge, ”she says.
“I do nothing, I breathe and I’m bored”
As for those who do not want or cannot work at a time when they should be enjoying life, their small pension forces them to count everything. This is what Marie, 70, does: “I pay 185 euros in rent, 170 euros in APL, 45 euros in Internet box, 24 euros in car insurance, 13 euros in home insurance, 50 euros in electricity. , 8 euros per day for food. I do nothing, I breathe and I’m bored, ”she describes. Marie-Thérèse, 63, who receives around 690 euros, is desperate: “I have been under curatorship since December 2022. I do not have enough to live properly. »
As for Michèle, 75, her accounts are quickly made up: “I receive 1,092 pension and my rent is 650 euros. At the end of the month, after paying everything I owe, I have between 2 and 4 euros left,” she observes. Brigitte, 63, is also bitter: “I only get 1,100 euros. Being alone and renting, my retirement pays me my bills, but it’s hard to feed myself. I don’t get any social assistance and I’m just surviving. My entourage finds my situation shameful: yet I have worked so much! »