Emma Jones has applied for 50 Jobs in the last month, and not had a single reply.

The 21-year-old was one of hundreds of young jobseekers hunting for opportunities at the city’s council’s first youth jobs fair at Oxford Town Hall yesterday.

It came as new figures showed youth unemployment in the county is worse than a year ago.

The former Icknield Community College student, from Chalgrove, has A-Levels and a BTEC qualification, but has been forced to take a string of short-term jobs, including heavy lifting in a furniture factory and answering telephone calls at Oxford’s Citizens Advice Bureau.

She was made redundant a month ago.

She said: “It is really bad.Because I have not got that much experience, I’m not even considered. What am I meant to do? If I go to university I will repeat what I have already done, and I do not want to build up huge debts.

“I am looking for work every day, and it is just ridiculous.”

She added: “I don’t think the Government cares, but all the cuts they are making have consequences.”

According to youth employment adviser Connexions – which itself faces funding cuts – there were 904 young people aged 16 to 18 not in employment, education or training (NEET) in July in Oxfordshire – an 11 per cent rise from the same time last year, when there were 812.

And there are 2,045 people on Jobseekers’ Allowance aged between 18 and 24, according to the latest figures.

Dad-of-one Darren Lenton, 21, from Bernwood Road, Barton, has been hunting for work since 2009.

He said: “At the moment I’m willing to do anything and everything.

“I cannot give my two-year-old boy Cyrus what he wants, and it has put a lot of strain on my relationship with my girlfriend.

“I just want someone to give me one chance, even if it is cleaning the streets.”

Layla Crook, 19, from Bracegirdle Road in Wood Farm, finished a health and social care qualification last year, and will start a hairdressing course next month as she can only find a part-time job.

She said: “I thought it would be easy, but it has not turned out that way.”

BMW Mini’s UK recruitment manager, Holly Chalmers, said 500 applicants had applied for 34 apprentice places at the Cowley plant last year.

She added: “This year, we have also seen a lot of students applying who would otherwise have gone to university, but now cannot afford it.”

l A dad who offered a year’s supply of fish and chips to anyone who gave son Bradley an apprenticeship said he was still looking. Martyn Elsmore said Bradley had some interest from a firm in Charlton-on-Otmoor. The 16-year-old has been volunteering at a self build project in Banbury, the Miller Road scheme.