'Drug dealing is getting them a lot of money so they think, why should we work?': Life on the frontline in Britain's biggest unemployment benefits hotspots

Residents living on the frontlines of Britain's unemployment benefit hotspots have said youngsters would rather reap the profits of drug dealing than work. BARNSLEY: AREA CRUMBLED AFTER MINES CLOSED A boarded up shop in the South Yorkshire town, which is one of Britain's unemployment benefit hotspots In Barnsley, 40,000 of working-age adults are out of work, with 42 per cent of working-age adults economically inactive due to long-term sickness or disability A smashed window of a boarded up shop in one of Britain's unemployment benefits hotspots In Barnsley, 40,000 of working-age adults are out of work, with 42 per cent of working-age adults economically inactive due to long-term sickness or disability. The coal mines could not keep up with foreign competition, which was cheaper A row of shuttered shops on a street in Barnsley as members of the public walk by Barnsley has one of the lowest employment levels in Yorkshire at 71.9 percent John Player believes unemployment is rife in the Yorkshire town because it's a place people don't want to leave, Rose Goldsmith thinks schools must do better Your browser does not support iframes. Only Rotherham and Bradford lower at 68.8 percent and 68.1 percent respectively, according to Government data The South Yorkshire town has never fully recovered after Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher closed the mines in the mid 1980 A general view of Barnsley which has been given the unenviable title as the unemployed hotspot of Britain 'I had an example of a pupil the other day, who said "I don't want to get my exams Miss, because my brother didn't get his, and he's got a job".' PERRY BARR: 15 PER CENT OF PEOPLE UNEMPLOYED A building drowned in graffiti on Birchfield Road in Perry Barr A man approaches a car in Perry Barr, which takes the top spot for unemployment Lifestyle Express shop owned by Nafeesa Wahid, who said the store is constantly targeted by thieves Nafeesa Wahid, who runs the Lifestyle Express shop next to the job centre isn't surprised, quipping that the issues were 'obvious' The West Midlands seat of Perry Barr took the number one spot in the findings by the House of Commons, with around over 15 per cent of the population in receipt of unemployment benefits.