Tertiary qualifications typically take years of hard work and cost thousands of dollars, but many students and graduates are struggling to find work to pay rent and even get enough to eat.

That’s according to employment agency Student Job Search (SJS), which says in the past financial year it had 434,000 applications for just 53,000 positions.

It says the student employment market has undergone major structural changes, and what appeared to be a short-term response to tough economic times is now baked into the employment landscape.