The younger generation — those under 25 — are most at risk of redundancy. There are 838,000 people in that age group out of work in the UK and that figure could rise to more than a million as hundreds of thousands of school-leavers and graduates hit the jobs market this summer.

There couldn’t be a worse time, not only because they are competing with a growing army of more experienced job-hunters but also because Britain is at the top of the dole scrapheap.

France and Germany have almost half the number of young people looking for work. Even European Union arrivals, such as Slovenia and Latvia, outperform Britain on youth employment.

And the bad news doesn’t stop there.

Nearly half of British companies do not plan to hire graduates or school-leavers this year, according to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

I have been discussing these issues – and more — with young people across the country as they set off on their search for employment: the danger of them becoming a “lost generation” — who never find their first job, let alone lose a job — is not lost on them. The truth is that their generation will shoulder more than their fair share of the pain of this recession.

As one said to me on Monday: “If it was all the bankers and the politicians who got us into this mess in the past, why are we paying for it, with our futures?”

He had a point.

Others had more personal and serious worries. The stigma, as they saw it, of “ending up on benefits” was one. Some, through watching friends or family on benefits, were all too aware of its dangers, of the damage that it can do, not least leading to drinking and drugs — “either doing them or selling them”, as one said.

It will be the youngsters from the poorest homes who suffer most, not only because young people in deprived areas will be hit as unemployment rises and local youth services become vulnerable to cuts.

All the options open to kids to make the best of their chances are pretty much money-dependant. For example: to get some valuable work experience on your CV you could get a job abroad, or do unpaid work here or voluntary work for a charity. But if your parents have a low income — or no income — how do you fund that?

• Daisy McAndrew is ITV News Economics Editor. She will be presenting The Class of 2009, a series of reports that will follow the job prospects of graduates and school-leavers over the next six months. It starts tonight on ITV Evening News and News at Ten

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