 “I worked for 17 years for nothing” 
Based on eight focus-group interviews conducted in the province of Quebec in 2018 amongst 44 persons receiving welfare benefits, this article presents the reasons given by participants to explain why they struggle to join and stay in the labour market. Two angles of analysis have been adopted. The first is about their perception of work. The concept of «rapport au travail/relationship towards work” allowed us to grasp dynamically what people think of work (their representations and aspirations) and the values they attach to it. It takes into account their working histories and their lived experiences in workplaces as well as outside the “labour world” (worlds of family, education, health, etc.). The second angle of analysis highlights their life courses, employment and assistance paths in terms of hardships and barriers to employment. The research shows that despite a largely positive relationship towards work and willingness to return to the labour market, the people we interviewed are ambivalent about the proposed workfare-inspired “activation policies”, especially because they are confining them in precarious jobs limiting their ability to engage in an upward trajectory. The survey also shows that discriminatory practices of employers, as well as the welfare system in itself (notably by keeping welfare recipients in extreme poverty), constitute important barriers that limit their access to the labor market.