Gordon Brown has accused the coalition Government of making "immoral" cuts to education that would leave Britain with a worse youth unemployment problem than during the recession of the 1980s.
The former Labour prime minister, writing in the Daily Mirror, said removing state help for less well-off pupils to stay in education after 16 was an act of "economic vandalism".
He said the country should be following the lead of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Australia in boosting apprenticeship places to train young people to help the UK exploit fast-growing Asian consumer markets.
Mr Brown, who has written a book about the global economic crisis, spoke out after official figures this week showed a 35,000 jump in unemployment and a near-record number of young people out of work.
"Tragically Britain is entering yet another decade of youth unemployment," he said, predicting that it would rise to over 20% - with one in three out of work in the worst-hit areas.
"We are still paying the price for the lost generation of wasted lives of the 1980s. Now we have a new social time bomb in the making."
Saving the Future Jobs Programme from being scrapped would keep 50,000 young people "off the streets" and rather than reducing funding for universities - made up by rises in tuition fees - the Government should ensure they "do a better job", he suggested.
"Cutting education - writing off half a generation of young people - is immoral and an economic waste.
"The Educational Maintenance Allowances remain central to getting teenagers to stay on in education to get qualifications. Cutting now when unemployment is high is educational vandalism," he added.
He concluded: "We need to invest in British genius, in the innovations, the science, the technology that will build the best future - and help small businesses to employ skilled young people. That's the way to avoid another lost generation of wasted young lives."
Read More
MORE ABOUT