Unemployment figures released on Wednesday showed the number of unemployed young people had reached a record high, with half of 16-24 year olds out work.
There are now nearly a million young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (Neets), according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
The number of Neets increased by 74,000 over the last quarter, taking the total to a record-breaking 991,000 - the highest figure since comparable records started in 1992.
Taking the 9.35 million people classed as "economically inactive" and the new jobless figures together, the ONS revealed half of the UK's 16 to 24-year-olds are without a job.
As David Cameron described the figures as "very disappointing", unions, career service organisations and young people alike attacked the government for failing to provide the country's jobless with a future.
The University and College Union (UCU) said the government needed to to provide support for young people to access to education, training and work.
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “We hit record youth unemployment levels at the same time that financial support for college students has been removed, the cost of a university degree has trebled and the Future Jobs Fund has been axed.
“We risk consigning an entire generation to a life with no jobs, no education and no prospects.”
Spencer Mehlman, managing director and founder of the young person's career advice organisation Not Going To Uni, says visitors to his site double in the last three months, and the website now sees 100,000 young people logging on to get help.
"A lot of the people I encounter have no idea how to get on the career path. They don't understand what an apprenticeship means. There are obviously a lot of underlying issues as to why young people can't find jobs. University has long been touted as the only option and that needs to change. Schools push it as the be all and end all to boost target figures and results. There is a moral issue with people saying to young adults: go to university, get yourselves into £50,000 worth of debt and don't worry about it'. Then, when they come out of university and can't find a job- as so many are doing today, they have nowhere to turn."
Additional figures released by the ONS showed the largest-ever cut in the number of part-time workers, down by 175,000, with the jobless rate of 8.1 per cent the highest since 1996.
Labour’s shadow work and pension secretary Liam Byrne described the statistics as a "day of judgement" for the coalition.
“The figures are the clearest proof yet that the Government’s decision to cut too far, and too fast is hurting and just not working.
“Britain now needs a change of direction", he added. "Getting our young people back to work is quite simply the safest, surest way to get the deficit down and put Britain on the right course for the future."
Mark Corcoran-Lettice, a 22-year-old Newcastle University graduate who has just completed a masters in English Literature, has been job searching for five months and is still unemployed.
"I've encountered a couple of companies which are taking advantage of unemployed people. Yesterday I had a telephone interview with an agency for a Newcastle-based administration role. It rapidly turned from a usual phone interview into a sales pitch for a 'free' three-month IT course that unsurprisingly turned out to a have a hefty administration charge. Having checked their website I found no mention of any jobs in Newcastle - a bit suspect to me. Needless to say I am still looking for a job. It's difficult."
In anticipation of the unemployment statistics being published, skills minister John Hayes unveiled an "upgraded and improved" standards platform to promote the new national careers service with launches in April 2012.
But the careers service, which the government are selling as a replacement for the now largely defunct Connexions advice service, is the subject of scepticism for many.
Mehlman, who founded his company in 2008, described the current service as "crumbling" and added he had doubts about the government's new "one size fits all approach".
"There is a gulf in careers advice for young people", he continued. "And its about to get a whole lot bigger."
Mehlman's company is now launching their own online forum for young people to get help from qualified career advisors for free, which he hopes will open the doors to employers such as Deloitte, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Lloyds, and other corporations who regularly use Mehlman's site to talent hunt.
But Mehlman's company is still in the minority, and will only be able to place a small percentage of the unemployed in jobs. What will happen to the rest is in the hands of the government.