‘A job is like finding a needle in a haystack’: how Dudley became centre of UK’s youth jobs crisis

Automotive students at Dudley College of Technology hope a qualification will prove to be a reliable route to finding a job. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

It is a rainy day in Dudley and Alex Jones and his friends are taking shelter under some trees in the car park of the college of technology. Clad in blue overalls on a mid-morning break, the students are hopeful their automotive qualifications will stand them in good stead for finding work.

Here in the heart of the Black Country, however, that is not always guaranteed. “Trying to find a part-time job is like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” says the 17-year-old trainee mechanic.