Abstract

COELHO-LIMA, Fellipe; TEIXEIRA, Matheus Rodrigo Confessor; LIMA, Katiane Leite da Silva  and  MEDEIROS, Anne Louyse Gomes de. The Experiences of Unemployment among Workers in Rio Grande do Norte’s countryside. Cad. psicol. soc. trab. [online]. 2019, vol.22, n.1, pp. 99-115. ISSN 1516-3717.  http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.1981-0490.v22i1p99-115.

The unemployment has been an ongoing focus of recent studies in the field of psychology, but the context of countryside regions is less explored. This article aims to analyze the unemployment experience of workers in a countryside city, taking into consideration how work and unemployment are signified, beliefs, feelings, and coping strategies adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven women and three men, between 20 and 55 years of age, with unemployment time ranging between one month and 20 years. It was possible to identify the belief that unemployment can be attributed to external causes, and work signified as survival. Feelings towards them are ambiguous, and the main survival strategies are resorting to informal work and relying upon financial aid from the family. In order to overcome unemployment, respondents send out curriculum and invest in professional qualification. It is possible to conclude that there are similarities between some of the aspects around unemployment experiences in the countryside identified in this study, and others that focus on workers in large urban centers, with the difference of lower investments in public policies and social circles as a way to overcome unemployment.

Keywords : Unemployment; Experiences; Confronting unemployment; Meaning of work.

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