TV review: Dispatches - Middle Class and Jobless

I wondered whether the joggers, dog walkers and pushchair wheelers I passed en route to the station this morning were actually the latest casualties of the recession – unemployed, middle-class professionals – rather than fitness fanatics, part-timers and stay-at-home mums.Monday night’s Dispatches programme revealed the plight of these new “hidden unemployed” by following three out-of-work, previously successful white-collar workers – an HR director from the west Midlands (late 30s, two children, previous salary £90,000), a marketing director (ex-Hamleys toy store, London, formerly in charge of a £1 million budget) and a high-flying sales executive (big car, nice house, currently £30,000 in debt and delivering catalogues door-to-door just to make ends meet). Equally interesting are the stories of three graduates trying to get a toe-hold on the professional jobs market.