TEENAGERS have been urged to “carry on studying” until the recession is over, with an extra £3.4m pumped into schools and colleges in Oxfordshire to ensure they can.

Another 447 places will be created in school sixth forms and further education colleges across the county, in a scheme that the Government calls a “September guarantee”.

The idea is that every 16- and 17-year-old thinking of quitting their studies to look for a job will instead return to studying until the economic storm clouds have lifted. The package for 2009/10 – which also includes separate cash for apprenticeships – follows warnings about fast-rising youth unemployment.

Ministers have faced criticism over a rise in the proportion of 18-year-olds classed as ‘Neets’ — not in education, employment or training — to 16.6 per cent at the end of last year, up from 14.2 per cent in 2007.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls said: “All school leavers this summer should consider staying on in learning so they have extra skills to get a job once we are through the recession.

“We can't repeat the mistakes of the 1980s and have a generation of young people scarred for life by long-term unemployment. This is an important part of that.”

In April’s Budget, the Government announced a £655m funding boost to provide an extra 55,000 places for 16- to 18-year-olds this year and next year.