It has been more than six months since Leah Savage, 24, started job hunting and despite applying for almost 100 jobs, she has had just two interviews in that time.
“It’s so demoralising. All I do is wake up and apply for jobs. I reach out to different people and everyone says the same thing – they’re not hiring at the moment,” she said. “It’s a real struggle. I am lucky to be able to live at my parents’ house and I am on universal credit, but I can’t do stuff like go out with my friends because I just can’t afford to.”