Charity work eases unemployment blues (From Swindon Advertiser)

Charity work eases unemployment blues

12:00pm Thursday 24th December 2009

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CRAIG Evenden knows better than most how hard it is to in the midst of a recession.

Despite sending out 175 job applications in the past year for jobs from London to Bristol, the 27-year-old has only had three interviews and no luck in finding permanent work.

But he is far from alone in his plight.

A bar manager with 10 years’ experience, he is just one of 660 Swindonians on the dole – a number that has shot up 159 per cent since the same time last year when only 255 were signing on.

“It’s hard living on £65-a-week,” said the Freshbrook resident, who lost his town centre pub job in mid-October 2008.

“When you have been out of work as long as I have you begin to get depressed.

“Considering I have been a staple in Swindon’s bar and pub scene since I was 17, it was amazing to me that I couldn’t find work – but perhaps that is just a sign of the times. It has never taken me more than a couple of weeks to find work in the past.”

The statistics come amid reports that Britain’s slump of the past 18 months was the deepest since the Second World War.

That means the nation is the only one of the G20 nations still mired in recession.

But recently Craig has found a new way to fight off the unemployment blues – he now works part-time at Swindon’s Food bank.

He said: “Working at the Food bank has been a lifesaver.

“I would do it for free just to keep busy and to be around people that I can actually help – but thankfully they pay me. It makes me feel like I am useful and I can relate to people’s situation.

“I would recommend similar things to others looking for work.”

In Wiltshire county, the situation is worse than in Swindon with the number of people signing on tripling – from 240 to 745, a rise of 210 per cent.

Nigel Costley, regional secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said unions had been working hard to encourage the Government to extend schemes to get young people back to work to adults.

He said: “Nationally the dole numbers have doubled, so although Swindon is above the average, things have improved since the beginning of the recession when the town was hit pretty hard.

“Being out of work is devastating to people’s confidence.

“We would like the Government to create more jobs for adults – similar to the way they did for the young.

“We also want the Government to intervene sooner to ensure people get straight back into work.”

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