Last month, the government pledged £60m to increase opportunities for unemployed 18-year-olds on its Work Programme and provide training and work experience for 16- and 17-year-olds through Jobcentre Plus.
Paul Fletcher, director of youth engagement at Rathbone, said the plans focus too much on improving the supply of young people to the workplace and not enough on creating demand from industry.
"We have 10 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds that are outside of mainstream education and training and want to work," he said. "Large numbers of young people that Rathbone work with are finding it hard to get anything other than short-term agency work. They come back to Rathbone because they've only done a couple of days work, but it has affected their benefits."
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