Three quarters of students are less optimistic about securing a job than they were prior to the downturn and as a result a third are more likely to take a gap year than continue job hunting.

According to student organisation Bright Futures, 40% of students in their final year are applying for jobs earlier than they normally would and 40% are investigating the possibility of working in different sectors than they originally planned.

Just under two thirds (65%) are prepared to take a lower salary than they would like and 85% do not expect the economy to start growing again until 2010 or later.

Half of students believe greed is the cause of the economic downturn while 25% blame the Government.