Job uncertainty for North Yorkshire's 'lost generation'
We've been hearing from young people across the county.
Desperate young people across North Yorkshire have been telling us that more investment is needed in the job market.
Unemployment has risen to over 5% - the highest level in nearly 5 years - with under 25s often bearing the worst of job losses.
660 people in York are currently DWP claimants, 410 up on last year.
Where as the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the Harrogate district dipped slightly last month.
However, the figures were still more than double that seen at the start of the pandemic.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is setting out his Budget on Wednesday.
Maeve Schaffer is studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of York. She's planning to do a Masters so that she has more certainty next year: "I was at my parent's home over the first lockdown. I'm in York this time, otherwise I'd be paying for accommodation that I'm not able to live in.
"The internet isn't very good where I live, so that can be very frustrating as everything is done online at the moment. It does affect our degrees.
"Not only are there less jobs out there, but there's double the cohort because of those who graduated in 2020.
"We're not only up against all the people who may have lost their jobs as fully qualified adults, but we're up against last year's cohort and the rest of the people in our year.
"I've gone for a Masters. Many people call it a 'panic Masters', but at this point I think you're better with the certainty of studying for another year.
"We just need a bit of reassurance that something is going to happen. The Government have really ignored us as a group of people."
"I understand that we're not the priority - the vaccination programme is the priority. However, we're going to be the people entering the job market, and we're going to be the people footing the bill for the recession".
Kae Brookman is a first year university student from Harrogate. They're worried about how they're going to get by and pay for their monthly outgoings when things start to reopen if the job market is so poor.
They said: "People are getting cut off and they're not able to work because of the pandemic. God knows what it's going to be like when a new cohort of students come along and want a job but there aren't any there.
"The rents are a stupid amount of money. It's only just covered by my student loan. I have to ask my parents for a certain amount of money each month just so I can buy food.
"It's really tricky asking because you can't afford to live. I shop at Aldi because it's cheaper, but I have to walk half an hour there and back with bags of shopping.
"There's no jobs going. The amount of times I've gone online to try and find something. There's no other option than to ask your parents for money. There's nothing else we can do."
Kae is studying their degree in social work, so needs to create a placement in order to get a job at the end of it.
They said: "When I do finish university, the jobs are going to be so competitive. You have to do a placement as part of the course and for now everything is over Zoom.
"For someone who is relying on that placement to get a job in the future it's incredibly stressful."
Isaac Lowe is a final year Computer Science student at the University of York, and doesn't think he'll be able to go into his desired profession: "I don't think it'll be a problem for me to get a job after University, and I have a good enough degree and the experience to show employers that I'm worth hiring.
"However, I didn't come to University because I wanted to get into the degree mill, come out the other side and then jump straight into a job that pays your standard salary. I came here because I want options.
"I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life before University, but then in the first few years I got these magical moments where I thought 'I can do this'.
"Now in my final year, all these grand ideas that I had which were achievable are now slipping away. I'm interested in the software and hardware of industries with audio equipment - I find all that stuff really fun. Considering the impact that Covid has had on those industries, they don't have the money to employ people like me.
"I was in Manchester doing an engineering job as an intern, and you could tell people were worried. I have some sympathy for employers, because business has no certainty whatsoever.
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is due to give his budget speech to the House of Commons on Wednesday.
He's expected to give a detail plan for the country's economic recovery after the pandemic.
It's where he’ll outline how the government is going to invest and protect jobs in the future.