The Scottish Government’s Regional Employment Patterns report showed there were 3000 more 16-19-year-olds not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in 2015 than the previous year.
It means there are now 23,000 NEETs at a time when the SNP has cut the number of college places by more than 150,000.
The Scottish Conservatives, who pledged to restore college cuts in their manifesto, said the rise proved the need for more, not less, availability in Scotland’s colleges.
The majority of youngsters out of work and education were male, with rates going up by 2.8 per cent between 2014 and 2015.
Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said:
“These figures show a very worrying rise in the number of teenagers not in work, education or training.
“This follows a very deliberate decision by the SNP to cut the number of college places by more than 150,000.
“So at a time when young people badly need opportunities to broaden their horizons, one of the key ways of doing this has been removed.
“These statistics should focus minds within the Scottish Government.
“The UK Government has worked very hard to ensure economic recovery, and we can’t have young people in Scotland missing out on that because the SNP doesn’t value college education.”