Unemployment: Your stories

UK unemployment rose by a record 281,000 to 2.38 million in the three months to May, the Office for National Statistics has said.

The jobless rate increased to 7.6%, the highest in more than 10 years.

Here are some of your experiences of unemployment and looking for a new job.

Tell us about your experiences

MATTHEW FOREMAN, GILLINGHAM, KENT

I am 30 years of age with a degree in computer science and a masters degree in business.

After working for the same company for six years I was made redundant in December 2008.

Since that time I have been making on average five to eight applications a day for a variety of positions. I have also been involved in get back to work schemes.

Although I have been lucky enough to get some interviews there are always at least five to 10 others also interviewing and with competition so fierce unfortunately I'm still trying to land a job.

Being out of work for so long is incredibly depressing and you spend so much time trying to work out what you did wrong and how you can change the situation.

You can't sleep at night through constant worrying and every day you wonder how long you can carry on like this with finances getting more and more scarce.

The pressure just keeps on mounting with no hope of breaking the cycle.

LEE GORDON, BIRMINGHAM

Having just finished four years at university, I have to sign on to job seekers allowance.

What makes it worse is that I left a well paid job to go and study four years ago.

I can see no end to the current problems, I feel for people who have little or no work experience as finding work will be almost impossible.

ALEX, MILFORD HAVEN, PEMBROKESHIRE

I graduated in 2008 with a degree in yacht design.

I got a job but I was made redundant in December 2008 on the day I found out that my wife was carrying twins!

Since then I have applied for over 700 jobs, had six interviews and no offers. I am thinking of moving to Canada.

ANNA CORMACK, EDINBURGH

I am 23 years old with a degree in law and politics from Edinburgh University and have been unemployed for a year.

Right now, I am sitting in government-sponsored programme for people my age on writing a CV.

I am in the same group as those who are illiterate. I feel so angry that I worked so hard and now the government are forcing me to do this.

Meanwhile I spend my days filling in applications for jobs that 300 other people, often with twenty years on me, are going for. For every 10, I get one interview.

I have been a Labour Party member since I was 17 and they have let me down badly. Graduates are not politically popular so no help is provided.

What a waste of time my degree was.

HELEN GOVIER, LONDON

A qualified accountant, I was made redundant three months ago.

The finance job market is dire - it is almost impossible to find work.

The job centres, quite frankly, are a waste of space - no experience with dealing with recessions, professionals, etc.

There is no help for unemployed people between 25-50, which is needed.

You need to look at people's skills and help them back into work; not merely give them tea and sympathy.

CHRIS, EDINBURGH

I'm a student studying at university.

Every year I have found a summer job, which made me enough money to pay off a lot of the debts I have accrued throughout the year.

This year there are no summer jobs, even in Edinburgh, which has the festival.

The job figures ignore students who, with a complete lack of grants, depend on part-time work to survive.

DAPHNE BLAND, LONDON

I am afraid I am at the other end of the scale, 61 unemployed and not signing on, so myself and others like don't get picked up with the statistics.

Older workers in good times find so much prejudice regarding ageism.

Now with very serious unemployment figures, it is almost impossible, yet we are supposed to be supporting diversity at work.

Older unemployed workers face a very dark, stark future, job deprived, economically deprived and pension deprived.

Yet no one seems to be speaking out about this, least of all charities related to our cause.

MAURICE SAVILL, FARNHAM, SURREY

I was made redundant last year and am still looking for a job over one year later.

Although a great deal of attention is paid to the high number of youngsters that are unemployed (quite rightly), there are a significant number of people who do not seem to receive any media attention; namely the over 50s.

Getting a job is made more difficult because as an ex-middle manager potential employers with more "casual" jobs (such as cleaning, driving, etc) are unwilling to take me on because they feel that as soon as a more suitable job comes along that I will leave.

I appreciate that there are people in worse positions than myself but we are a significant minority and receive little or no media attention.

STEPHEN GAULT, BIRKENHEAD

I have been out of work for about a year now. I apply for jobs every day and still nothing turns up.

The job centre is absolutely useless, they are about as helpful as a wet paper bag and on top of that i have roughly £30 taken out of my benefit every two weeks.

This government expects people to live on less than £40 a week, to pay bills, food, travel, internet costs, it's just not possible.

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