'Working, what's the point?'

Javascript and Flash plug-in required Either the Flash plugin was not detected on your computer or the JavaScript features of your brower have been disabled. To enable Javascript on your browser we recommend that you contact your computer support line. Click here to download the Flash plugin from the Macromedia website

By Paula Dear BBC News

With redundancies rising and vacancies shrinking, unemployment is back in the headlines. But for millions it never went away. One young couple on unemployment benefits explain how being out of work affects their lives.

Carl, 24, and Lauren, 20, [we have agreed not to use their full names] have been together for nearly a year. They are both unemployed and receive benefits.

Lauren has been out of work for a year, and Carl for three years. They live in a deprived former mining village in the north of England where - a generation or two down the line from the pit closures - unemployment levels remain high.

Gutted. Depressed. Bored Carl

Nearly 800,000 under-25s in the UK were listed as unemployed in last month's government figures. Some 16% of that age group are jobless, compared with the national average of 6%.

No one story is the same. Every tale of joblessness - be they young or old - could be interpreted differently. Carl has three words to describe how he feels about his situation.

"Gutted. Depressed. Bored. Young people don't get given a chance."

British workers

Both left school at 16 without any qualifications and initially found work.

Carl drove a forklift truck at a local firm and has also done some window-fitting work. Lauren has worked as a packer at a factory and last winter had a temporary job in a pound shop.

She has also done part one of a college course in childcare.

Carl says employers usually ignore young people, and the jobs going are often so insecure and poorly paid they are not worth coming off benefits for.

It's just pointless getting up... by the time you've paid all your bills you're left with nothing Carl

Another recurring theme is immigration.

He says: "I've worked at a few places but I got laid off from [the last one] because there are immigrants that have come into our country and are working for cheaper, so that caused us to be all laid off because we're on more of a wage.

"I've been out of work for about three years and I just want the right job, a job I want. It's just hard as anything to get a job round here."

Carl blames the government, not the individuals who have come here from countries which are "worse than ours". But he and Lauren both believe British people should get jobs ahead of people from overseas.

As Carl sees it, the constant "fight" to get, and keep, a job in these circumstances is wearing.

He says he used to "love" working. He now feels aggrieved, and disillusioned.

"I've got 25 good friends and only about four of them work out of the lot of them, they just feel the same as how I do.

"It's just pointless getting up, by the time you've got up, you've paid your bus fares and made your sarnies and all that you're left with