Scottish Labour is promising to offer every unemployed young Scot a job as part of a £1.2bn economic recovery plan.
Party leader Anas Sarwar said the overall set of proposals would amount to the "biggest job creation scheme" in the history of devolution.
Sarwar has cited post-covid recovery as his top priority for the next term and he has now rolled out the specifics of Labour’ s blueprint.
A key plank of the plan is guaranteeing a job to every young person who has struggled to find work.
The £500million ‘jobs for recovery’ guarantee includes six months of employment and training.
According to Labour, it will be open to everyone under 25 who does not have a job, people over 25 who are long term unemployed, and every disabled person who is out of work.
The new Scottish skills benefit, which has already been announced, is aimed at ensuring those who are on furlough or unemployed can up-skill or retrain.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 53,000 fewer people were in employment in Scotland than in the previous year, while at the end of January 360,000 Scots were furloughed.
Sarwar said: “Scotland is facing a national jobs emergency - and without urgent ambitious action we could see hundreds of thousands of people facing a future out of work.
“It doesn’t have to be that way - the people of Scotland deserve a brighter future, which is why stimulating the economy and creating jobs is at the heart of Scottish Labour’s National Recovery Plan.
"We have just months to act, but with ambitious action we can confront this emergency and tackle the emerging jobs crisis.
“This is a guarantee for every young person or unemployed person to have a job or and for everyone who needs it to get access to paid training.
“It is the biggest job creation scheme in the history of devolution - but it is the scale of ambition that is necessary to battle the crisis.
“The cost of doing nothing is even greater – mass unemployment would fall hardest on young Scots, potentially leaving up to 100,000 people out of work.”
Ahead of the launch, Sarwar highlighted more than 360,000 people in Scotland are still on furlough - which is due to end in September - and suggested a further 210,000 workers are expected to be unemployed by June.
