Millions of young people are failing to get jobs as unemployment rises.

The economic downturn which has swept across most of the rich world and infected large parts of the developing world is souring the hopes of millions of people in their teens and twenties, among them students and graduates.

The International Labour Organisation has warned that the youth unemployment rate worldwide will rise from 12% in 2008 to up to 15% in 2009.

Job options

So where does the answer lie - should young people try to stay in education, start up a business, or lower their horizons for pay and conditions?

As part of the BBC's Taking the Pulse of the Global Economy, Lesley Curwen turned to Christine Evans-Klock, who's the director of skills and employability at the International Labour Organisation, and asked for her reaction to the plight of those graduates who are young, eager and yet unable to get work.

First broadcast on Business Daily on 15 June 2009