Young people who have sent off scores of job applications and CVs with no result could be forgiven for dismissing the National Convention on Youth Employment held in Dundee yesterday as yet another talking shop.

The 103,000 people aged between 16 and 24 unemployed in Scotland naturally want action rather than words. They should be cheered by the scheme to provide half-price travel on ScotRail trains to people who have been unemployed for three months. That should widen the opportunity for those for whom the cost of travel is a real deterrent to attending interviews or taking up unpaid work experience opportunities.

Although this is a catch-up to a scheme already operating in England, it has the advantage of becoming available after three months without a job rather than six, which is particularly helpful as young people can be severely affected by a long period of unemployment.

That has been recognised by governments on both sides of the Border, with millions of pounds being channelled into new apprenticeships and work experience schemes. Apprenticeships have been welcomed by employers and eagerly sought by young people because they provide training in the specific skills and a route to permanent employment. Work experience schemes have had a very different reception. The sanction of docking benefits from young people who failed to complete a work experience placement of up to 12 weeks that was unpaid but provided expenses in addition to Jobseeker's Allowance led to claims of slave labour, which prompted a number of household name businesses to pull out of the scheme.

The Youth Contract, which applies throughout the UK, is a superior model providing employers with up to £2275 to pay 18 to 24-year-olds for a minimum of 26 weeks. There are around 2000 such places in Scotland and yesterday the Scottish Secretary Michael Moore made a plea for employers to create another 500. It should be heeded.

The Scottish Government is already committed to ensuring a job or training place for every 16 to 19-year-old not in work but the dearth of vacancies, which is likely to worsen as the public sector cuts take full effect, means that the benefits of a training place may well be undermined by a spell of unemployment. With a reduction in college places in Scotland, workplace training will be necessary to ensure there is a cohort of young people with the appropriate range of skills when the economy picks up.

That will take time. The Chancellor should recognise the urgency of the situation, especially for young people, and use next week's budget to accelerate the process. Measures such as suspending National Insurance contributions for young people, as suggested by the SNP, and Labour's proposal of taxing bankers' bonuses to provide youth employment both have merit. George Osborne should not reject them unless he can provide an equally effective alternative.