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Tieng Anh Vui
National schemes to tackle youth unemployment are not working, the group representing English councils has said.
The LGA said the current system is over-complicated, with 35 different national schemes across 13 different age boundaries costing £15bn a year.
Research by the LGA also shows a drop of 8% in the number of young people in England who started a scheme last year compared with three years ago.
The government has insisted it is not complacent about youth unemployment.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said 50,000 fewer jobless young people are getting help from job schemes today, than was the case three years ago, despite long-term youth unemployment remaining stubbornly high.
Meddling
The LGA added that not only is the national system too complicated, but that "meddling" by successive governments has made the situation worse.
For example, the LGA claims that only 27% of 16 and 17-year-olds starting the government's Youth Contract were helped into training or work.
David Simmonds, chair of the LGA's Children and Young People Board, said: "It's clear that nationally driven attempts to tackle youth unemployment aren't working."
"While there are a number of good initiatives, government has side-lined councils and incentivised a series of services like schools, colleges and third sector providers to work in isolation of each other, with no clarity on who is responsible for leading the offer to young people on the ground," he added.
The LGA is using the data from the national schemes to highlight what it sees as progress at the local level.
'Own the problem'
For example, it claims that in a locally-based scheme in Newcastle and Gateshead 47% of participants who were previously categorised as Neet (not in employment, education or training) were successfully helped into a job or a training course.
"We know the level of success that local organisations, such as councils, businesses and education providers, can achieve when working together, but this is being hampered by successive centrally-driven government approaches," Mr Simmonds said.
"We would now urge government to give local authorities and their partners the powers to 'own the problem' and become the link between young people and local employers," he added.
The LGA also points to an example in Cornwall, where a scheme called Cornwall Works was set up by Jobcentre Plus and Cornwall Council.
Under the scheme, a range of local organisations, projects and services were brought together to help young unemployed people find work.
The LGA says the model has helped Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly keep youth unemployment consistently below national levels - in November 2012, youth unemployment was 6.5%, compared with 7.1% nationally.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said it was already working locally with businesses and councils through Jobcentre Plus to help get young people into work, and it has already announced a review into the training options on offer.
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