Over a third of jobless young people in Northern Ireland have felt suicidal, a survey has shown.

Over 18,000 have been considering taking their own lives because of the emotional impact of losing work, The Prince's Trust added.

While some become hostile and angry, others withdraw into themselves in a long and downward spiral, the organisation said.

Ian Jeffers, director at The Prince's Trust, said: "The implications of youth unemployment stretch beyond the dole queue and the emotional effects on young people are profound, long-term and can become irreversible."

The Trust launched its Manifesto for Disadvantaged Young People in Northern Ireland on Monday. It said there were over 52,000 youths unemployed or not in training or education.

Of these 35% said they had felt suicidal, while 32% said they were depressed all the time and 27% felt they had nothing to look forward to in life.

Mr Jeffers added: "With support and training for young people from organisations like ourselves, we can reverse the emotional and psychological scars of joblessness and give them a much better chance in life."

The manifesto called for more consistent funding, greater interaction with young people and combined action from members of the public, government and private sector.

The director said: "It needn't be expensive to help our young people, indeed it is more expensive to ignore them. By forming partnerships between the private, public and voluntary sectors, we can do much more for less.

"We can't just sit back and watch our young people be pushed more and more to the margins of society. Now is the time to act to secure a brighter future for our young people in Northern Ireland."