Having applied for more than 40 jobs this month alone I can say that this is a load of. I've been finding more and more that preference is being given to people with NVQ's in stuff that is completely stupid. Today I was interviewed for an apprenticeship in Administration which would get me a Level 2 (GCSE standard I think) qualification in Administration which would involve filing, answering the phone etc...basically common sense. And why when I have a Level 6 qualification (Bachelor's degree) would I want another Level 2?. It's just so difficult and it is so unnecessary.

I was told today that places are favoring apprenticeships these days, mainly because they can legally pay £2.60 an hour. I've worked for that amount of money before and I still trying to get the owed NMW from my former employer. Plus according to someone I spoke to at my local Reed agency when I went to sign on that because of the number of people looking for work, employers can be more choosey than before.

I think a lot of the comments on here blaming immigration, whilst there may be a little bit of basis to them, are not the be all and end all. The problem is with things going up, businesses going bust and people not moving jobs the problem is that the jobs just aren't there to begin with.

And there will be more and more as companies close because they are not making a profit on top of a profit! And I cannot believe this figure, more like 150 per job at the moment! And I am also sure that because of people being thrown onto benefits (yes I said thrown, as the majority of these people are genuine people who want to work, not the stupid propaganda from the Tories that condem the people as layabouts) that the deficit is going up! So their stupid cuts are definitely helping the country economically at all!!

20 people for each job, what a load of crap. The last 20 or so jobs I've applied for have said more than 60 people had applied, and more had enquired but were not considered as there were so many applicants. The jobs people do not apply for are delivering pizzas on mopeds and the like, or the wage cannot be lived on it's not because indidgenous Britons are lazy like they try to portray. Where do these morons get these figures?
The sad part is that a lot of people who read this dross will believe it. Jobs for the English, what do we own Europe??? The other way around would be closer to the truth.

Another reason Cameron Clegg & Co are so out of touch with the real world and can't get things right, sooner their out the better. I never voted for either of the pair of plonkers in the Election as I knew we'd all be suffering in many ways, which we are. UKIP are the only party I vote for now and I hope come the next election more of the voting public vote likewise.

From personal experience I think the figure of 20 people chasing each job vacancy is a serious underestimation. I was unemployed for 9 months recently and applied for just over 90 jobs and never received a reply, never mind an interview. The reason given for not replying was that there were often over 100 people applying for each job and there wasn't the resource, especially in a small firm, to reply to all the applications. I did eventually get invited for an interview and got the job I do now, but I know for a fact that there were over 200 applicants for that job. I am in North East Wales.

First of all the figures are a fix when you consider those who nare looking for a job but are not entitled to claim benefits such as married or living together couples where one is working and one is not but they cannot claim benefits then I think especially in highly populated areas such as London and other major cities then well over 100 people are chasing just one job. I use Reed Accountancy website to look for work and for the vacancies they advertize they show the number of applicants for that job and especially in the London area the figure can be several hundred for every vacancy.Employers discriminate against those who are out of work especially the long-term unemployed. If I were in the cabinet I would legislate that employers would only ever take on someone who was unemployed and not someone who was still in employment elsewhere. The way I see the future is for employers to continue cutting staff with ever more automation so things can only ever get worse.

Last year we were told there were 100 applicants for each job, how come with higher unemployment the numbers have gone down.

STOP ALL THE EU FROM COMING TO ENGLAND...A LOT OF THEM ARE JUST CLAIMING..NO WORK,NO JOB..GO BACK HOME..STOP GIVING THEM HAND OUTS..

we have just had a driving job come up and had over 50 people apply and are firm gave the job to a polish driver no loyalty to british workers anymore firms should be named and shamed

Something I am not happy about re immigrant workers (I'm not totally for them.Don't think that) is when you look on Gumtree at the jobs and they are written in Polish!No English words at all.I think that's illegal under employment law but who do you tell?

To make matters worse for the reasons listed in my comment below (too long to fit in one Huff Comment) Many companies like the one I work for now refuse to advertise via Jobcentre Plus any more. As we do not want to have our legitimate vacancies put up amoung the Rogues Gallery of dodgy employers that are the only ones who still use them. As no serious company wants that kind of product placement as everybody seeing it will think we must be dodgy as well and it will tarnish our reputation. Because of this jobcentre plus has turned into an employment junk shop and will stay that way being boycotted by legit firms because of its blatantly dodgy practices. If jobcentre plus wants legit companies back it needs to seriously clean its act up instead of wallowing in shot, because shot sticks!

I think the figures are stacked far higher against the job seeker then 20 to 1. As if this is based on the official amount of vacancies on the job centre directgov web site a good third are bogus and don't represent an actual job instead they are creative re numbering and re titling of a single job often as much as 15 times. Which is nonsense as any company with 15 identical vacancies at the same location on the same shift would just 15 vacancies in the one add not advertise them separately as it would make drawing up a short list impossible. Job centre plus have also been caught on numerous occasions by the BBC making up pretend vacancies such as the infamous "Submarine Designers, no experience necessary, meets minimum wage" episode. Likewise many Agency jobs advertised on Directgov don't exist either instead they are just put their as lures to get job seekers to register with the agency who will tell them sorry the vacancy has gone .where is in truth it never existed. There are also many obvious scam jobs from problem employers, As Job centre plus famously doesn't vet people who advertise with it as its so desperate to get listed vacancy numbers up.

go to thetford in norfolk its like a different country , you walk down the street and all foreign. And if i was to set up a car wash i would be arrested for being illegal pity the border force do not check out all the car washes that have been set up most are illegals working in them and not paying taxes , thats more annoying

And still they allow more immigrants into the country....this is total madness and if those immigrants can't get work, the list of those claiming benefits gets even longer. Who's running this asylum?