Junior Witter has not had a permanent job since coming from Jamaica three years ago to join his family in Britain.

In Jamaica he did well at school gaining seven O levels, and had started a university course in computer studies before leaving for England.

He said he hoped to be able to earn enough to pay his way through university here but so far has had to settle for intermittent unskilled manual work which does not pay well enough to fund his studies.

A lot of people like to jump on the colour issue just to cover their own faults

Junior Witter

Mr Witter said he had started another spell of unemployment in January and was frustrated by his lack of progress.

"I would think there would be loads of companies out there who want to employ someone with seven O levels in a junior role but they're all looking for experience. That's why I've never been able to get a permanent job.

"They all say the same thing, lack of experience, it's a Catch 22 situation," he said.

Mr Witter, who lives in north west London, said he had enrolled with a local training group, LEAP, to try and enhance his job prospects.

"One of the reasons I came to LEAP was because I started thinking I must be doing something wrong at interviews. But I'm beginning to realise it's not really that, it's just how society is.

"They're all looking for experience and no matter how hard a worker you are they won't take a chance with you, especially if you're black," he said.

'Bandwagon'

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed people from some minority ethnic groups were twice as likely as white people to be unemployed.

But Junior Witter was reluctant to blame his failure to get a job entirely on the colour of his skin.

Black people are twice as likely to be unemployed

" A lot of people like to jump on the colour issue just to cover their own faults. In my case I'm qualified, but I've got black friends who can't even read or write and yet they jump on the bandwagon and say it's because they're black," he said.

He believed much more discrimination was based on the area in which a person lived. He said it was particularly difficult to get a job if you had to give a Harlesden postcode - an area notorious for drugs trading and violent crime.

"When I used to live in Harlesden, if you rang up for an application form and said you came from Harlesden sometimes they didn't even bother sending an application form. It's not just me, it's happened to friends too.

"I think it's because of the violence and the drugs but you can't stereotype the whole place just because of certain things that happen," he said.

And he said he was now pessimistic about his chances of getting a permanent job in the near future and was re-thinking his plans.

"To be honest the way it's going now, I'm thinking of pushing my plans forward and going to university and get more qualifications so they can't reject me because I'm not qualified enough. They'll have to think up a new excuse," he said.