Workers sleep in line in search of a vacancy in the Job Task Force

The expectation of getting a job with a formal contract made cleaning lady Roseli Aparecida Mariano Cavalcanti, 57, sleep in line in search of a vacancy at the Workplace Task Force of the Trade Union, held this Monday (16), from 8 am to 5 pm. , in the Anhangabaú valley, central region of São Paulo.

Doing odd jobs cleaning bathrooms, in which she earns R$50 for 12 hours of work, Roseli wants to change her life. She hopes to work in the same area or as a kitchen help but earn more.
She arrived at the site at 7 pm on Sunday (15) and was the first in a line that, at 8 am, had about a thousand workers. “I slept sitting up, in the cold, and I kept thinking about how difficult it is for someone who has to live on the street.”

Known for its long lines, the vacancy fair received, on this first day, fewer participants than in previous editions. Even so, by 9 am, 1,300 passwords had already been distributed. On previous occasions, the distribution of passwords has reached 3,000 over the first day.

In all, around 10,000 vacancies are being offered in various sectors, such as cashiers, drivers, kitchen assistants, janitors, logistics assistants and human resources assistants, but most are in the telemarketing area.

“Whoever is looking for a job, this is the place and the time is now. Everyone who comes to the union’s headquarters this week will be attended to,” says Ricardo Patah, president of the Trade Workers Union and UGT (General Union of Workers) .

For him, the lower number of workers in the queue compared to other editions of the fair reflects the current difficult situation the country is going through. The unionist says that many are unable to attend because they have no money to pay for bus or subway fares, in addition to showing the dismay of the unemployed.

“There are several issues. This is the first task force after the pandemic, we did others, but online. In addition, people don’t have money for the ticket and there is another very serious situation that is discouragement”, he says.

Data from Pnad (National Household Sample Survey) Continuous, from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), show that the country had, in the first quarter of this year, 4.6 million discouraged. Discouragement corresponds to the number of people who are available to work, but stop looking for a job because they cannot find work, have no experience, are too young or old, or cannot find any vacancies in their locality.

Fair offers qualification courses

With unemployment still high —the rate for the first quarter of this year is 11.1%— the task force also offers qualification courses. In all, there are 1,200 vacancies for courses, according to Marina Bragante, executive secretary of the São Paulo State Secretariat for Economic Development.

Marina believes that offering an opportunity for qualification is important at a time when workers are spending a lot of time unemployed, hearing several “no’s”, which affects self-esteem and leads to discouragement. “Many people have been unemployed for a long time and do not think they are capable. Qualification is a concrete offer and a reinforcement of the certainty that the professional has something to deliver”, she says.

Workers want opportunities

There were many faces, stories and expectations in the queue looking for a job. Older workers want to have a formal contract to be able to retire, women seek to raise their children with more dignity and there are young people looking for the first vacancy, wanting to give a better future to those who raised them.

The unemployed Odiesseia de Jesus Ferreira, 36, blames the federal government for the current unemployment situation. A resident of the North Zone, she lives with her parents and their 15-year-old daughter. Unemployed since 2021, she says that her father supports the house, with the pension he receives.

“He pays all the bills and there’s a penny left for him. The prices are absurd, we can’t eat meat or work in Uber, with the price of gasoline. Politicians don’t do anything for us. People forget, but we can’t forget”, says Odisseia.

Jéssica Soliara Moreira, 31, says she wants an opportunity that brings her hope and shows her 11-year-old daughter that it is worth studying and investing in the future. Black, she says that the vacancies offered to blacks are always cleaning. “I wanted more opportunities, I’ve always worked in cleaning and I’m not putting it down, but I can also do more,” she says.

She finished high school through Enseja (Education for Youth and Adults), and says she does everything to give her daughter a better life, who lost her father in 2021 and does not receive a pension, as he had stopped contributing to the INSS (National Social Security Institute) for many years. “It’s just me and her. I was orphaned at five, I have no help.”