"If things don't go any faster," she's going to "go wild" any minute. Swimming despite her black fur slippers and mini-shorts, a thirty-something is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. After a good hour spent outside the Pôle emploi agency in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), then a good half hour inside, he only has three short meters left to go before the finish line: the post of an adviser, a sort of gatehouse with its anti-coronavirus protective glass.
Except that the closer it gets to the goal, the more time slows down. Because these last three meters correspond to three markings on the ground - for three people and as many complex situations to be clarified for the agents. Deprived of the Internet at home, like many people here, the thirty-something will soon be able to “update”.
Seine-Saint-Denis very affected
Pôle emploi does not escape the sanitary rules: here as elsewhere, everything has become a question of hygiene procedures which hamper the usually well-oiled mechanics of welcoming the unemployed. And what does it matter the multiplication of meetings by telephone to try to unclog the agencies? "You have to come and talk to a person when you do not correspond to the criteria dictated by the robot voice which answers us at 39-49, the assistance number of Pôle Emploi", underlines Marine, a 22-year-old registered youngster. . As a result, lines of unemployed overflowed and spread out on the sidewalks.
Added to this are the effects of Covid-19 on employment. Since February 2020, in Seine-Saint-Denis, - one of the most affected by the epidemic and poverty - 12,810 additional people have registered as unemployed. So many newcomers who increase the queues.
A little further ahead of Marine, Mansour readjusts his mask. The "young unemployed" is registering "for the first time", he says with pride. He has just blown out his 62 candles. Despite a "career as a computer scientist" and "full of odd jobs, sometimes in interim", he lacks several quarters to benefit from a full pension. So, he insists, “we have to work more. "
"Having physical contact is essential"
His neighbor, a 52-year-old cleaning agent, came to deposit his residence permit. Just behind him, Sylvie, 55, has to re-register because “she can't reach anyone by phone”. As for Yasmine, 19, the young woman came to accompany her mother in search of training as a beautician. The latter speaks French with difficulty, so "having physical contact with an advisor is essential", they explain.
It is far from being easy with these windows and these masks which stifle the voice and force to repeat the same words over and over again.
Newsletter "It pays me"
The newsletter that improves your purchasing powerI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers. Learn more
At each line, the same rules: mask, markings on the ground, hydroalcoholic gel and telephone number, "in case there are patients". In each branch visited, in Montreuil, Aubervilliers or Saint-Denis, the agents scramble to enforce these new instructions, answer questions from potential beneficiaries, scan documents essential for updating or simply reassure. "Overall, everything is going well even if there are inevitably small moments of tension", concede security agents.
