Seventeen people are chasing every job in Tooting according to new unemployment figures.

Last month there were 2,384 people claiming Job Seekers Allowance and just 137 vacancies advertised at the local Jobcentre according to the Office of National Statistics.

The unemployment total has risen by over 10 per cent in the past year prompting local MP Sadiq Khan to criticise Government cuts to youth services.

He said the jobless rise comes after the Government scrapped the Educational Maintenance Allowance, which encouraged young people to stay in further education beyond 16, scrapped the Future Jobs Fund, cut funding for Tooting Connexions, cut further and higher education funding and increased tuition fees.

Cuts to health services are also hitting the area’s largest employer - St George’s Hospital - which has been forced to cut 10% of its workforce.

Mr Khan said: "We have so many talented young people locally. But with jobs hard to come by and the government removing support for staying in education, too many of them are facing a difficult future.

"There is an alternative to this Government's failing policy. The tax on bank bonuses should be continued and the money used to fund 100,000 jobs for young people.

"The Government must stop sitting on their hands and take action to help our young people contribute to society."

Nationally unemployment is at its highest level since 1994.

Youth unemployment is at an all time high of 991,000, while women's unemployment is the highest it has been in 23 years.