A BUTCHER was flabbergasted when law graduates, former managers and engineers applied to become a £6-an-hour assistant on his stall.

Doug Ewen said some applicants were so desperate for a job, which pays just seven pence above the minimum wage, that they offered to work for free for a month.

But the graduates in law, engineering and surveying, as well the managers, mechanics, engineers and shop workers who applied were left disappointed.

Mr Ewen had to whittle down the 240 applicants down, and has drawn up a shortlist of nine made up solely of people with previous food preparation experience.

The person who eventually gets the role will work on his new stall in Blackburn’s new market.

Business and training leaders said the case highlighted that East Lancashire now had too many people studying for degrees and not enough youngsters were going into apprenticeships.

But Blackburn MP Jack Straw said it revealed how desperate the unemployed were to return to work, and defended the increase in the number of people with degrees.

Mr Ewen, a butcher with 25 years’ experience, is opening Ewens Family Butchers in Blackburn’s new £10million market, which is due to open in the ground floor of the shopping centre extension in Church Street on May 28.

He advertised for a counter assistant on £6 an hour. The successful applicant will be trained up to be a butcher.

Mr Ewen, 43, said: “We’ve been flabbergasted at the applicants who have presented their CVs to us.

“Lots of graduates have applied with absolutely no butcher or counter experience, but holding law degrees.

“There were people with a lot of qualifications but who’d never worked in a butchers before: people with degrees in law, surveying and engineering. Not the kind of people you would expect to respond to an ad like this.”

Many are likely to have come from Blackburn’s Jobcentre Plus, where Jobseekers’ Allowance claimants have to apply for positions to keep their benefits.

However, the tally - which included people of all ages - also reflects the town’s faltering economy, where 3,992 people are currently claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance and 6.8 people are chasing each job.

Mr Ewen, who lives near Wigan, added: “It is unbelievable but just shows the state of the country at this moment in time.

“We don’t want to take on a graduate who will be off as soon as another job comes along.”

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce boss Mike Damms said the case demonstrated that previous governments’ policies of getting more youngsters into university was misguided.

He also said many people had been allowed to stay on benefits for too long.

He said: “What we have ended up with is plenty of young people who are qualified, but they are qualified in the wrong things.

“It is right to get young people educated but they need to be educated in what the economy needs.

“We have betrayed a generation by making taking a university course or being on benefits look like a proper job.”

Jim Harkness, managing director of the Accrington-based North Lancs Training Group, added: “We have certainly got too many people with degrees.

“I think it is also the case that apprenticeships are not promoted properly by schools and careers advisors.”

However, Mr Straw defended the last Labour government’s attempts to get more people into university.

He said: “I agree that apprenticeships are important but we have increased the number of poorer people who can go to university.

“I think this case shows the scale of the unemployment problem and how desperate people are to get back into work.

“However, I think it will be some time before the situation improves.”

Mr Ewen will interview the shortlisted candidates next week.