More than one in five (22%) of 16-24 year olds are currently unemployed, of which almost 500,000 have been jobless for more than six months: http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-21323-f0.cfm
At the onset of the economic in 2008 the job prospects for young people deteriorated sharply and have been at crisis levels ever since according to the TUC, whose General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Ministers should be doing everything they can to help young people but so far all they've done is cut vital financial support for college students and price people out of university. Jobs support has been scrapped, scaled back and then reinstated on the cheap. This is no sensible way to help young people into work or education.'