Projects Abroad: Redundant workers considering gap year breaks

A growing number of people who have been made redundant as a result of the economic downturn are considering taking a gap year holiday, it has emerged.

Ian Birbeck, Recruitment Director at Project Abroad, said that most enquiries tend to come from graduates and gap year students, however more and more people who have lost their jobs are also thinking about volunteering.

'Maybe they have been working in banking for ten years, they have got a redundancy package and they think: I would quite like to go off and do something a bit different,' he commented.

Earlier this year, the company revealed that Ghana, India, Peru, Senegal and China are among their most popular destinations.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the jobless rate stood at 6.5 per cent in the three months to January 2009.

Founded in 1992, Projects Abroad has more than 250 trained staff and offers over 100 generic projects.