Chancellor John Healey will use his speech to Labour's annual conference to pledge to transform young people from "generation jeopardy to generation hope," focusing on the nearly one million youngsters not in employment, education or training (Neets).
Latest figures published in August estimated there were 981,000 Neets in April to June.
First job with training and a wage
Mr Healey is expected to say: "The best thing we can offer a young person isn't a benefit. It's a first job. With training. And a wage."
He will add: "Our determination to help matched by their determination to hope. Because conference, I believe this generation has the potential to be a great generation. From Generation Jeopardy to Generation Hope."
The Chancellor is understood to be deeply concerned about youth unemployment and is closely involved in a review by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn into the challenges facing jobless youngsters.
Union Learning Fund to return
A source close to the Chancellor told the Mirror: "John's politics were forged in the industrial heartlands of South Yorkshire, where youth unemployment skyrocketed in the 80s and the 2010s when the Tories deindustrialised Britain."
Mr Healey is also preparing to bring back a £15 million-a-year fund to help workers gain new skills. Staff in union-led workplaces will be given training to help them build essential skills and adapt to changes like AI.
The Mirror understands he plans to restore the Union Learning Fund from next year, which will allow workers to avoid fees for courses ranging from essential English, maths and digital skills, to training for jobs in growing industries, such as advanced manufacturing. The previous fund, established in 1998 but closed by the Tories in 2021, supported around 200,000 employees each year.
New age of industrialisation
In his speech, Mr Healey, a former Defence Secretary, is also expected to pledge a "new age of industrialisation" with a multi-billion pound investment in British shipyards. Three new floating docks for the Royal Navy's Scottish submarine base at Faslane will be built in Britain through a UK-only competition for contracts.
Known as Programme Euston, plans for the new docks were first set out in 2023 and are expected to upgrade HM Naval Base Clyde's facilities by the 2030s for the next generation of nuclear submarines.
Mr Healey will argue that the UK cannot return to the coal mines of the past as he sets out his vision for firing up British industry. He will say: "Our coal mines are not coming back. But this is how Britain's industrial past is being remade now for the modern world. This is the new age of industrialisation. A new confidence in Britain."
It follows a £115m commitment by Louise Haigh, the First Secretary of State, to commission a new marine research vessel, which will also come into service in the early 2030s.
On Sunday, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told conference that getting people into work and off benefits was "the cause of our times". He said: "We don't just owe people an income. We owe them a future too and that is what the system should be built around."
Mr McFadden laid down the gauntlet to Labour MPs, who rebelled on Keir Starmer's botched welfare reforms, saying: "I want us to change the question that the system asks from 'what benefit are you entitled to', to 'how do we help you live the fullest life?'"
He confirmed plans, first reported by the Mirror, that firms taking on young disabled people under a new government scheme will see 100% of wage costs covered for the first six months.
Meanwhile, Andy Burnham met Norwegian counterpart Jonas Store for talks on European security while in Liverpool. The Prime Minister said the two countries had a "warm friendship that goes back for so many years", but now faced "new challenges" together on defence and security. The football-mad PM also joked that Norway's close ties with the UK included Manchester City's star striker Erling Haaland.
