THE number of jobless university leavers is expected to break the 100,000 barrier this week, heightening fears of a “lost generation”.

Tens of thousands of out-of-work graduates from the class of 2009 have joined the 70,000 from last year who have still not found employment, official figures are expected to confirm.

The flood of applicants for the shrinking number of graduate jobs has led recruiters to become increasingly tough in their entrance requirements.

Sainsbury’s has joined the growing ranks of companies that will not accept any entrants to its graduate programme with a degree lower than a 2:1, a threshold once confined mainly to elite City firms and consultancies.

Unemployment data to be published on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics will also show that the total number of jobless under 25 passed the 1m barrier in October, up from 946,000 in August.

The number of new graduates unable to find a job means nearly 8% of those aged under 25 with a degree are now without a job.

David Blanchflower, professor of economics at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, said the level of joblessness among graduates and other young people was a “national crisis”.

He called for the suspension of national insurance contributions for the under-25s and subsidies for employing the young.

“A spell of unemployment is bad when young and the longer it is, the worse it is,” said Blanchflower. “We want to do everything to prevent it becoming long-term unemployment.”

The rise in the numbers leaving university and entering

the jobs market, with 300,000 graduating this year, has led

to increasingly strict selection criteria.

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