Joblessness among younger people is already at a record high and economists warn that school leavers and graduates that failed to find work over the summer could push the official figures up further.

Youth unemployment reached 947,000 in the three months to July - the highest level since Office for National Statistics (ONS) records began in 1992.

One in five people in this age group was shown to be looking for work, as the jobless rate hit 19.7%.

Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said the one-million mark could well have already been reached.

“This highlights the very worrying problem that youth unemployment is becoming,” he said.

Overall he expects unemployment to rise above 2.5 million from 2.47 million, with the number of new people without work slowing slightly to 140,000.

It is feared the jobless total will hit 3 million next year.

Professor David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and labour market expert, was quoted saying that more should be done to stop youth unemployment rising further.

“I think unemployment for the under-25s is certain to go through one million, if not this month then next,” he said.

“The Government should do anything it can to stop young people being unemployed, including offering to pay them benefits while on internships.”

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced plans to avoid a generation of young people “abandoned to a future on the scrapheap” in this year’s Budget through a guaranteed job, training or work placement for all 18 to 24-year-olds who have been on the dole for 12 months.

Younger workers have been hit hard by the recession as many firms have implemented hiring freezes and cancelled their graduate training schemes.