'No response' to job applications

A third of unemployed young people have not received any responses to job applications in the past year, new research has shown.

A survey of 2,000 16 to 30-year-olds, 250 of whom were jobless, also showed that almost two thirds described looking for work as "demoralising".

One in five unemployed young people questioned by The Prince's Trust and RBS bank said that finding a job in the next year would be "unachievable".

The report, to be published on Monday, showed that self-employed young people were significantly more positive about their future.

Martina Milburn, chief executive of The Prince's Trust, said: "It remains a difficult time for the young unemployed and the longer they are out of work the more likely they are to sink into a spiral of disappointment and depression. Setting up in business can be an escape route out of the dole queue for these young people, and a route to success."