"At uni it's a bit of a divide. You tend to talk to other people who don't have a job," she reveals. There are about 730,000 unemployed people nationally. The number of long-term unemployed – those looking for work for more than 12 months – has been growing considerably since the global financial crisis in the late 1990s. Loading As of July, there were 175,700 long-term unemployed nationally. This is down from a peak of 185,500 in 2015, but it's still a 125 per cent rise since 2008. About 94,000 people have been out of work for two years or more. A Brotherhood of St Lawrence report from last year estimated there were 50,500 people aged 15-to-24 long-term unemployed.

Teixeira Henriques was discouraged by her parents from working during high school so she could concentrate on her studies. However, this meant she was rejected by prospective employers because she didn't have experience. She has applied for more than 100 positions but mostly can't even get an interview. "They used to say I had no experience, or I was too young. Now they say I am too old. It is so depressing." Another barrier is location. There are jobless hotspots in remote and regional areas. This can lead to geographic discrimination. "I live in Punchbowl [in Sydney's west] and when you tell employers that, you can see the shutters go down. They think it's a bad area," Teixeira Henriques says. She says her peers don't talk about unemployment because of embarrassment and even shame. But they have several ways of coping, including sharing meals, buying cheap food in bulk and skipping meals.

"Very often I don't eat breakfast. It's an easy meal to miss to save money." She avoids cafes and her social life is visiting friends' homes and meeting in libraries. Teixeira Henriques is supported by her parents, who keep her off welfare. But others are not so lucky. The Fairfax-Lateral Economics Wellbeing Index found the economic cost of long-term unemployment was $13.6 billion last year. "People are always saying Millennials have life so good. But we are struggling to get through each day. "I feel like a huge failure. I get so depressed and upset, very disappointed. It makes me feel like an outsider."

Generational crisis looming Chief executive of lobby group Youth Action Katie Acheson says a generational crisis is looming because of the lack of political leadership. "There is absolutely no reason that people should feel a personal sense of failure. The reality is the jobs are just not there," she says. "Crisis looming": Katie Acheson, from Youth Action. "The truth is the real number of long-term unemployed is much higher than reported. This is a problem eroding the future of our country."

Acheson says there are a lack of entry-level jobs for young people, automation is increasing, and young workers are competing against the more experienced. "The government is 100 per cent not doing enough. [Former prime minister Malcolm] Turnbull was always proudly proclaiming the creation of 1 million jobs. But the definition of a job can be working one hour per week. That just masks the real extent of the problem." She says Australia is one of the only Commonwealth nations not to have a minister for young people or a dedicated plan for youth employment. "It's not a priority. We put all this emphasis on the ageing, which is fine, but we also need to prioritise the young. It's a scandal that we don't."

But it is not just a problem for the young. Older people are also vulnerable. The government's $7.3 billion privatised employment services network, jobactive, is in place to tackle the problem. A spokeswoman from the Department of Jobs said flexible employment services allow customised services for younger workers who are unemployed and not studying, and aged workers (over 50). All jobactive providers have access to an "employment fund", 71.5 per cent of which goes towards long-term unemployed. The government also provides wage subsidies for employers who hire long-term unemployed, with up to $10,000 available.

It has also introduced the PaTH (Prepare-Trial-Hire) program to provide skills and real work experience for young Australians. It has increased spending on transition to work programs by $89 million in the last budget, setting aside $547.1 million over the next four years. But Acheson is not convinced. "We are robbing an entire generation of their future, of all the great things that we used to have because of a lack of action and planning," she says. 'Life in the cheap seats'

Robert Turner came to western Sydney in 2011 from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, to look after his mother. He has struggled to find work, constantly chasing a series of short-term jobs that lead nowhere. "The whole system is flawed from the ground up": Robert Turner outside Mount Druitt Centrelink. Credit:Christopher Pearce "When people think of Sydney, they think of the Harbour Bridge, the beaches, the Opera House. But we are living life in the cheap seats." His home is in Shalvey, near Mt Druitt, the ground zero for unemployment.

According to a social health atlas compiled by researchers at the Public Health Information Development Unit at Torrens University, Mt Druitt north west has an unemployment rate of 19.8 per cent and a long-term unemployment rate of 9.4 per cent, one of the highest in Sydney. Turner says life is a daily struggle. "I've tried printing off resumes and going door to door. But you get told they recruit through employment agencies. The whole system is flawed from the ground up." Turner, who receives about $200 per week through Newstart, says there is a monthly check-in with his employment agency, but it is pointless. "They treat individuals so badly you don't want to be there. The problem is the system is rotten to the core."

Turner joined the Australian Unemployed Workers Union to fight for a better deal for himself and others, and believes the entire system needs change. "The whole network could be switched off tomorrow ... If they were taken out of the equation I could walk in off the street, booted and suited, hand in my resume and say I want to work for you." The government is, in fact, examining the role of job providers beyond 2020. An expert panel is due to release its report by mid-October, in what could be a a major shake-up. Turner has a 2002 Commodore which he struggles to keep on the road. "Last week I had a $1400 repair. I thought, 'Where I am going to get that?' "I don't have breakfast, I hardly ever have lunch. Once or twice a week we will have chicken. It's not an easy life."

He believes most politicians just aren't interested in long-term unemployment. "As somebody living below the poverty line we have no power. We have no swinging power. Why would they bother with us?" Turner met the Herald outside the Centrelink office in Mount Druitt on a busy weekday. People mill about in the entrance and inside almost 100 people wait for service, split between Centrelink and Medicare. Mental health problems are common, and Turner says he has had to be removed from the office twice because of anxiety attacks. A spokeswoman from the Department of Human Services said it could not release data on individual centres, but noted that the Ombudsman’s office received 10,823 complaints about Centrelink in the 2017-18 financial year, down from 11,867 in the previous period.