A £1bn scheme to get ‘every young person working or learning again' was unveiled today by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

Around 400,000 young people could directly benefit from the new ‘Youth Contract' initiative by 2015, which will pay private firms more than £2,000 for every young person they hire.
 
The fresh initiative comes as levels of young people not in education, employment or training, so-called ‘Neets', has risen to 1.16m.
 
Mr Clegg said: ‘Youth unemployment is an economic waste and a slow burn disaster.
 
‘We can't afford to leave our young men and women on the scrap heap. We need the next generation to help us build the economy.'
 
The scheme could see 160,000 workers aged 18-24 getting half their wages paid for by the state for the first six months – up to £2,275 or around half the minimum wage.
 
An existing scheme that provides £1,500 to firms for each apprentice they take will be expanded to at least 40,000 places, the deputy prime minister claimed. Another 250,000 young people could be offered work experience for up to eight weeks, while continuing to receive benefits.
 
Mr Clegg stressed the scheme was ‘a contract, a two way street' and revealed that any youngster taking a job under the scheme who quits within the initial six month subsidised period could lose their benefits, and teenagers ‘failing to engage positively' with the Youth Contract could be forced to accept job placements.
 
‘If you sign up for the job there'll be no signing on for the dole - you'll have to stick with it' he said.
 
The scheme if funded by freezing tax credits for up to three years, hitting the millions earning less than £28,000 a year.