BBC:

It is hard to imagine a more difficult time to be a school leaver entering the world of work.
The class of ’09 will be the first students in a generation to finish their studies in a recession.
With youth unemployment already at 16% and rising, what will their future be?
Greg James, 18, is revising hard. He is in the middle of his exams at the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College. He is also working hard to find a job, with prospects. Greg has applied for up to ten positions so far, without any luck. His dream job is working with computers.
“That’s what I really want at the end of the day, to get a job so that all the hours of hard work pay off, rather than sitting around doing nothing,” he says.