Increasing unemployment among the Manchester community is leaving families in financial turmoil, the city's Jewish job-finding agency has warned.

"We have seen a rise in dire cases," reported JCom co-founder Norman Younger. "We know a dozen people with families who have been made redundant and can't pay their monthly bills. The employment gap has been steadily widening."

Mr Younger - who started the agency as a spin-off to his company formation business - said 100 job-seekers had registered in the last six months.

One satisfied client is Leon Kahan, a newly married book-keeper who was made redundant by a large property company in September.

"Without JCom I don't know where I would be right now," he said. "I was interviewed and that afternoon they called me with a potential employer. By the next week I was behind a desk at an accountancy firm."

The not-for-profit service initially operated inside the religious community, but its expertise is open to all Jews. By teaming up with welfare charity, The Fed, JCom has expanded its reach across Manchester's Jewish spectrum.

JCom manager and business consultant Yitzi Ginsbury hopes more businesses will see the Jewish community as a recruitment ground. "We're not trying to make money," he stressed. "We want to match the right person with each job so they can gain long-term employment. We know there are vacancies out there, but I'm restricted in how much I can help if the jobs aren't coming in to us."