HAMPSHIRE colleges are to share in an £83m scheme to help the long term unemployed get back to work with courses tailored to industry needs.

Seven further education colleges in the county will offer training places to people who haven’t had a job for six months or more.

As the recession deepens, fears have been raised they will be the ones who find it hardest to find employment, as more people fight for fewer jobs.

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The news comes as official figures reveal unemployment has jumped by almost a quarter of a million to take the total to 2.2 million.

It is the biggest quarterly rise in the number of people looking for a job since 1981 – 244,000.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance increased by 57,100 to 1,513,000, said the Office for National Statistics.

The UK’s unemployment total is now 2,215,000, the worst figure since 1996.

Under the funding scheme, courses are to be tailored towards the county’s economy, from retail to hospitality, and will offer vocational qualifications up to the equivalent of A-level standard.

The initiative, launched by Skills Secretary, Southampton Itchen MP John Denham, pictured, is aimed at creating training positions for 75,000 people nationally.

It is the first time further education colleges have been paid to help get people back into work.

Barton Peveril, Brockenhurst, Eastleigh, Fareham, Isle of Wight, Peter Symonds and Sparsholt colleges have all signed up to the scheme.

Mr Denham said the project, which comes after a £100m programme announced last October to help people made redundant, is designed to help people find jobs and stay in work.

“We will not stand by and leave people abandoned on the dole with no support,” he said.

“Our primary aim is to keep the time people spend out of work to a minimum while making the return to work a stepping stone to a more skilled future.

“We know that people whose skills are most up-to-date find it easier to find a job and businesses with well-trained staff are better placed to survive the recession and take advantage of new opportunities.”