THE Scottish Government's appointment of a dedicated minister for youth employment was a welcome and swift response to the dire unemployment statistics earlier this month which showed 23.5% of 16-24-year-olds in Scotland were without a job, three percentage points higher than the UK rate.

The new minister Angela Constance will have a total budget of £30 million but with 100,000 young people out of work, she faces a considerable challenge if she is to fulfil her pledge to leave no young person behind. She has made a bold start by channelling the first £1.5m tranche of the fund to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds into employment over the next three years. This is overdue recognition of the particular difficulties faced by young people leaving care and those with caring responsibilities, which too often not only limit their immediate prospects but prevent them realising their full potential. Involving both Skills Development Scotland and employers offers a good prospect of enabling teenagers to move from work experience to genuine employment.

However, the continuing contraction in the jobs market affects young people from all backgrounds. To prevent a lost generation, Ms Constance must secure agreements with a wide range of businesses and providers of training to equip jobless youngsters with the skills to match employers' needs.

The chief criticism of the £1 billion Youth Contract announced earlier this month for England is the lack of a requirement for employers to provide training or develop the skills of the young people they take on. With the majority of placements lasting only eight weeks, there are grounds for fearing the scheme might become a mere cosmetic exercise. Without careful tailoring to individual needs, there is a danger that, like the 1980s Youth Training Scheme (YTS), the Youth Contract will do little more than provide a subsidised, short-term labour force.

There is some substance in the argument that gaining the habit of work is a vital first step to employment and any job is better than none but short-term placements will not reduce the high numbers of unemployed young people. Ms Constance, however, has two immediate advantages over the situation south of the Border: the Education Maintenance Allowance is still available for school pupils in Scotland who need financial support and there are no university fees blocking access to higher education. This should mean a higher proportion of young people are able to gain educational qualifications but the needs of those who leave school and are unable to gain relevant training must be addressed. There will be concern that the cuts of £74 million to the college sector by 2014/15 will reduce the extent of training available and this must be considered in the review of post-16 education currently under way. With youth unemployment at record levels, this is not the moment to dispense with experienced further education staff.

Ms Constance has scope to tailor the programme in a way that will be most effective in a Scottish context and she must ensure that skills development is a core part of the contract with employers. A substantial increase in the 25,000 modern apprenticeship places the Scottish Government has committed to providing each year of this parliamentary term would be a constructive move.

With a number of major infrastructure schemes in the pipeline, now is the time to ensure a new generation has the skills that will be in demand as soon as these projects are spade ready.