Jobs guarantee plan for under-25s

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor Alistair Darling is planning a "budget for jobs" that will guarantee work or training for young people, a government source told Reuters on Tuesday.

From January 2010, everyone of working age under 25 who has been out of work for more than a year will be offered a job or a place in training, the source said.

"Darling will vow never to return to the day where a whole generation of people found themselves abandoned to a future on the scrapheap," the source said.

Those offered a job will receive a wage and those given training will be given a top-up to their benefit. This will form part of a 2 billion pound package to boost jobs that Darling is expected to deliver in the budget on Wednesday.