Over 70 years old still has to work because there is no pension

Age 72, working day starts from 5 am

At 5 am, when many people had not really woken up yet, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lieu (the character requesting a name change), 72 years old, from Ninh Binh, had started a working day.

She works as an hourly housekeeper for 3 families. Every day she has to move between families, doing tasks from cleaning the house, cooking, taking children to school to other unnamed jobs...

Her day usually starts at 5 am and only ends around 11 pm.

On average, she earns about 8.5 million VND per month.

That income makes many people think that a woman over 70 years old can still support herself. But behind 8.5 million VND is nearly 18 hours a day that she has to manage with work and life.

At this age, people also know fatigue and pain. When the weather changes, people get painful, but still have to try," Ms. Lieu said.

She does not have a pension. The 72-year-old woman said that she does not want to rely on her child. She only has one child, and her child's life is not yet well-off when she has to take care of her family and children's education.

Therefore, as long as she can work, she still wants to earn money herself. But what worries her the most is ahead.

She doesn't know how many more years she can do this job. Health is declining day by day, while the jobs she is doing require strength.

If I can do it now, I will try. When I don't have the strength anymore, I don't know what to spend," she said.

The saying she repeated repeatedly is not like a complaint, but like a calculation for the future.

Because she understands that for people without pensions, old age is not just a matter of health. It is also a problem of income.

73 years old still working as a hired laborer, saving money for days without strength

Ms. Le Thi Thanh, 73 years old, from Thanh Hoa, is also living her old age in such a way.

Previously, Ms. Thanh was a forestry worker at a farm. In 1983, she quit her job and received a one-time allowance. More than 40 years have passed.

Those who used to work with her back then, according to her, now many people have pensions. Each month, they have a fixed amount of money to cover their lives.

But Mrs. Thanh does not. At the age of 73, she still has to leave her hometown to go to Hanoi to work as a hired laborer. Her current job is living with a family, taking care of children. Each month she is paid about 8 million VND.

Her wages are calculated very carefully. About 2 million VND she sends back to her husband in the countryside. The rest she keeps, trying to save.

Not for shopping or enjoyment. She saved for the future.

Because she understands that 8 million VND today does not mean that next month there will still be 8 million VND. The job depends on the needs of the family hiring her and more importantly, depends on her own health.

When you are old, you have to calculate in advance. If you have money, save it, later when you can't do it anymore, there will be something to use," Ms. Thanh shared.

In the countryside, her husband also does not have a pension. He raises chickens and ducks, grows vegetables and then sells them to earn extra income.

The couple, each in a different place, each with a different job.

At an age when they could have lived slower after decades of working, they still have to find ways to generate income.

What is worth thinking about in Ms. Lieu and Ms. Thanh's story is not that the elderly still want to work.

Working while still healthy, according to each person's ability and desire, can bring joy, initiative and the feeling that one is still useful.

But the story will be different when a person has to work because there is no guaranteed income for old age.

For Ms. Lieu, if she is no longer able to go to work tomorrow, 8.5 million VND per month may also disappear.

For Ms. Thanh, if she no longer takes care of children, the 8 million VND will also be gone.

At that time, what they can rely on is savings, family support or social security policies that they are eligible to access.

That is the fragile point of life when old age has no pension: income no longer depends on the labor capacity of society in general, but directly depends on the labor capacity of the very body that has turned 70.

See the original here