The number of young people out of work reached a 13-year high in September as British companies cut recruitment sharply in an attempt to weather the recession.

Total unemployment increased by 140,000 to 1.82 million in the three months to September, the highest level in 11 years, and is predicted to rise to more than three million by 2010. Unemployment among the 18-24 age group is increasing faster than that for older people of working age, with the total of young people out of work reaching 579,000, the highest level since September 1995.

Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said that the youth unemployment figures were “particularly worrying”. He said that the figures indicated that “high unemployment is going to be with us for some time now”.

Nearly 350 people aged 18-24 signed up each day for jobless benefits last month, pushing the total up to 302,000, nearly a third of the total 980,900 people claiming jobseeker’s allowance in October.

Economists said that young workers were falling victim to recruitment freezes instituted by many firms as a precursor to job cuts. Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, said: “A lack of recruitment has a disproportionate affect on young workers, and the rise in unemployment among this age group is a typical indicator that overall job losses are set to rise.”

The number of young people out of work for up to six months rose by 12.8 per cent between July and September compared with the previous quarter, while the increase for the general population was 11 per cent.

The alarming increase in young people not in employment raised fears that some could face a long period on benefits before securing their first job.

The number of workers losing their jobs has also picked up sharply, with a 21 per cent rise in redundancies.

Housebuilders, affected by the credit crunch and the resulting fall in homebuyers, laid off 31,000 workers in the three months to September, while 13,000 were made redundant between April and June, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. The housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said that it had dismissed 1,000 workers since July, in addition to 900 laid off in the first half of the year.

The pace of redundancies also picked up in the distribution, hotel and restaurant sectors. About 30,000 workers, including chefs, bar staff and waiters, were made redundant between July and September, up from 28,000 in the previous quarter.

A further 13,000 transport and communications workers lost their jobs in the three months to September, while the number of finance workers made redundant between July and September leapt to 34,000, up from 21,000 in the previous quarter.

These figures are set to rise further as the job cuts announced this week by big companies take effect. Virgin Media announced 2,200 British job losses and Yell, publisher of Yellow Pages, said that it was cutting staff levels by 300. GlaxoSmithKline said that 620 jobs would be lost.

John Cridland, deputy director-gen-eral of the Confederation of British Industry, said that the trend of rising job losses was set to continue. “It is clear that the human cost of this downturn will unfortunately be higher than initially expected, with unemployment continuing to rise through the coming months,” he said.

Businessman washed up at 53: Case study Narinder Basra

For the first time in 35 years Narinder Basra finds himself unemployed. His London-based wholesale hosiery business recently collapsed under the combined weight of the credit crunch and the crumbling state of English manufacturing.

Now the former managing director has to endure a baffling new experience: signing on at the Jobcentre.

“I used to be a bookkeeper years ago,” Mr Basra, 53, said, stepping out of the centre in East London. “I want to do that again but all the jobs require computer literacy. I have none of this.”

Unfortunately for Mr Basra Jobcentre staff refused to retrain him until he had been signed on for at least six months.

“I made a fuss but they said it was their policy. I can’t get a job without retraining. They send me to a few interviews but I’m not qualified. So what’s the point?

“I signed up on a local computer training course paying for it myself – I need the training.” Alexi Mostrous

Young, keen and desperate: Case study Joshua Binks

Joshua Binks is personable and desperate to work, but that is not enough in today’s job market.

He spent much of yesterday afternoon sifting through prospects at the Jobcentre Plus in The Wardwick, Derby, but came away empty-handed as usual.

“There are very few jobs,” he said. “There always seems to be a lot on websites, but when you actually try to get in contact with people they seem to evaporate.”

he earnest, bespectacled former university student, 22, is one of the 579,000 people aged between 18 and 24 who were out of work in the three months to September – a part of the age-group that accounts for a third of the rise in joblessness announced yesterday.

He has noticed the market contracting in recent weeks. “I used to be able to go out and get some work or find something to tide me over for a couple of weeks but not at the moment. There just doesn’t seem to be anything at all.” Russell Jenkins

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