Ask John Ellis how many jobs he has applied for since he last worked in September and he thinks. The Bristol Jobcentre gave him a booklet to log his progress. “There are ten entries a page and each one has nine pages and I’m on my fifth booklet,” Mr Ellis said.

Looking for work is itself a full-time job these days. Mr Ellis spends three days a week at the Jobcentre scouring the fresh vacancies and writing applications, two days polishing his CV and interview techniques at a Department for Work “Programme Centre” and spare time at the library, checking internet recruitment sites and studying local papers’ jobs pages.

It is not that he is fussy. In the past 20 years the father of three has done jobs including warehousing, engineering and forklift-truck-driving. They were usually short-term contracts but when one ended he had no difficulty finding another. That has changed.

Today there is only one new job he could apply for, shift work in a warehouse. But it is in Weston- super-Mare, 20 miles away and he does not have a car. At 53, he thinks his age counts against him. He said: “It’s easy to get demoralised when you get knock-back after knock-back but you just have to keep on going.”

Abdi Jama, sitting at a neighbouring table in the Programme Centre, is equally frustrated. He is 57 and has not had a job since the food factory where he worked lost its contract with British Airways a year ago.

He completed a course qualifying him to be a doorman but cannot afford the £254 cost of a licence from the Security Industry Authority. He said: “If I had a badge I’d have plenty of jobs to choose from but where am I supposed to get that kind of money?” His dwindling morale is not helped by the lead story in the local paper, saying that nearly 14,000 people have applied for work in a new branch of Primark that has 420 jobs on offer.

Even the most menial jobs require skills many jobseekers do not have. A recruitment agency next door to the centre advertises a vacancy for a “tray-washer” paying £5.80-£6.20 an hour. “You will need to be fit, literate and numerate and HAVE YOUR OWN CAR,” the notice says.

Bristol has 11,472 people claiming jobseeker’s allowance, an increase of 143 per cent on the previous year. Among the 18 to 24 age group, unemployment is rising even faster.

The city council, which employs 17,000 people, is creating 100 jobs for apprentices. It is only a small dent. “As one of the South West’s largest employers we have a responsibility to help young people find work,” says John House, the deputy chief executive. “But it won’t be the same work we might have been used to, in finance or insurance. We are trying to encourage different type of employer to move to the area, particularly in environmental technology and the arts.”

Despite the gloom, Simon Flenley, manager of the Programme Centre, is resolutely optimistic. “We run 13-week courses but not many people stay that long,” he said. “There are opportunities out there but you have to be proactive. Don’t wait for a job to be advertised and then find yourself competing with hundreds of others. We tell them to knock on doors, research likely employers, approach them and ask what they have to offer.”

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