The drive to help more youngsters into work has been bolstered by plans for an apprenticeship academy at the Co-operative Group.
It is pledging to create 2,000 jobs over the next three years as part of a £9m investment.
Trainees will be paid £5 an hour for work in one of the group's businesses, ranging from food and legal services to pharmacy and farming, with the first ever funeral industry apprenticeships.
Apprentices will work towards achieving nationally recognised qualifications and will have the chance to progress to the firm's management development programme.
Group chief executive Peter Marks said: "With youth unemployment hitting the highest rate in nearly 20 years and almost 100,000 16 to 25-year-olds out of work, it's a really tough time to be a young person in Britain.
"We believe businesses have a real responsibility to help motivate and inspire young people."
:: There is good news for a second consecutive day from the UK car industry.
BMW has confirmed it is to build its next generation of Minis in Britain, safeguarding more than 5,000 jobs.
It is investing £500m, with new production facilities and equipment at the Mini
assembly base in Oxford, the pressings plant in Swindon and its engine plant at
Hams Hall near Birmingham.
Yesterday, Nissan confirmed a £192m investment to build the next version of its Qashqai model in Sunderland.
:: Halfords has announced a 7% increase in annual pre tax profits to £125.6m.
The leisure and automotive retailer, which has integrated car maintenance into its business, credits tight control on costs and margins for its performance in the year to April 1.
It says the re-branding of its Autocentres boosted trade with almost 2 million jobs carried out.
Halfords.com saw significant growth, now accounting for 9% of its retail sales but the company says it expects the "tough trading environment" to continue.
:: One company - two very different sets of sales figures this morning - from Home Retail Group , the owner of Argos and Homebase.
A continuing decline in the consumer electronics market helped push like-for-like sales at Argos down by 9.6% to £817m in the 13 weeks to May 28th.
At Homebase, demand for bathrooms, fitted bedroom furniture, and seasonal sales of garden funniture, plants, and other outdoor goods led to a 1.6% sales rise to £458m.
Chief Executive Terry Duddy says that despite difficult and volatile trading conditions, the group has gained or held on to market share.
:: Network Rail has announced improved pre tax profits of £313m on the back of improved success in reducing its costs.
The infrastructure firm says it is on target to achieve "challenging" efficiency savings and had cut its bill of running the railway network by £400m in the past year.
Group finance director Patrick Butcher said: "The rail industry simply has to become more affordable for the users....and for taxpayers.
He said the company would "Continue to drive for rapid, safe evolution."
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