The initiative, to be launched by Andy Burnham during a visit to a hospitality venue on Thursday, will involve restaurant chains including Wagamama, Nando's and Burger King, hotel chain Premier Inn, and pub chains Fuller's and Mitchells & Butlers. Employers will offer young people aged 18 to 24 placements of up to four weeks to gain "the skills and confidence needed to take their first step into work".
The move follows a similar scheme announced last month by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) covering retailers including Marks & Spencer, Asda, Pets at Home and the John Lewis Partnership.
The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, said the scheme would help young people "get their first step on the ladder" and build their careers. "With the UK employment rate now the second highest in the G7, this will unlock 100,000 jobs and connect young people with employers ready to take them on and help them build a brighter future," he said.
The announcement comes before the publication of a report on Neets by former health secretary Alan Milburn, who has warned the number of young people not in work or education could rise to 1.25 million within five years unless ministers intervene. His full review, including recommendations to the government, is expected soon after the autumn budget on 28 October.
Separately, the education secretary, Lucy Powell, is expected to announce a review of school exclusion changes after research showed students who are persistently absent from school are nearly four times more likely to end up unemployed and not in education or training. A consultation will gather views on measures to support students at risk of exclusion. Powell said: "Absence and exclusion are too often a path to disengagement, with increased risks of becoming Neet. Too many young people who fall out of education risk being permanently left on the sidelines of work and opportunity."
Milburn has signalled that Britain's benefits system should be overhauled alongside measures to boost job support, training and apprenticeships. Ministers are understood to be considering sweeping welfare changes, including scrapping a critical disability benefit for under-25s and replacing it with a multibillion-pound package of support to get into work. Milburn has previously argued for a national apprenticeship readiness scheme in England, while the chancellor, John Healey, has indicated a readiness to curtail the government's rising benefits bill.