Job cuts hit young black men

The report, launched to coincide with tomorrow's TUC conference on poverty, shows that 26 per cent of black men aged between 16 and 24 are unemployed - a 15 per cent rise in just two years.

The proportion of young black and Asian men left unemployed had dropped between 2002 and 2010, ending when the Con-Dem coalition took office, the research shows.

And TUC leader Brendan Barber has pointed the finger firmly at coalition government decisions to end the education maintenance allowance scheme and the abolition of college-based apprenticeships, which affected students in England.

"Last week the Prime Minister singled out employment as a great success of the government. That's cold comfort to the one in four young black men struggling for work, or the one in six jobless young black women," said Mr Barber.

He added: "That is why people of all generations will be marching through London this Saturday calling for an end to austerity economics and a future that works for everyone."

Carl Murray, head of employment and research for the Black Training and Enterprise Group, told the Star that many young black men were some of the first to lose their jobs in tough times because many were in the "lower echelons of the labour market."