Mr Abbott's comments follow revelations in The Age that the youth unemployment rate in Victoria had reached a 15-year high, with 13.8 per cent of young people looking for work.

"If a young person wants to receive a government benefit, there is a very easy way to do that, and that is to actually go into further education and training," Mr Abbott said in Melbourne on Tuesday.

"I say to people who are about to leave school, 'earn or learn', because what is unacceptable to our community - and should be unacceptable to you - is leaving a school to go on a welfare benefit. That is no way to begin your life. It is no way to begin your life as a constructive contributor to the Australian community."

Premier Denis Napthine suggested on Tuesday that youth unemployment figures painted a distorted picture of the situation confronting young people. He said the bulk of people between the ages of 16 and 25 were studying and only 4.2 per cent were unemployed.

"This is well below the national average, so in Victoria most young people between 16 and 25 are in education, university or vocational education and training," he said.

Since The Age's story on Monday, unemployed Victorians Arie Eddy, 18, and Nick Jones, 23, have been contacted by a number of employers and organisations who want to help find them a job.

Mr Eddy, who lives in Warrnambool - the state's hardest-hit region for youth unemployment - was offered a cadetship in radio telecommunications on Tuesday.

"They are willing to pay for the entire cadetship as well as paying for my air force cadets - it's a really great thing," he said.

Mr Eddy was studying hospitality at TAFE but its funding was cut and the course was axed. He has applied for 780 jobs but has only had one interview.

Mr Jones has been contacted by a workers compensation company about a potential job and says he feels "extremely grateful".

"I think this idea of a young, lazy, unemployed person scrounging for an entitlement is a bit of a myth. There are people out there who are looking for work but having a hard time," he said.

Mr Jones hit back at Mr Abbott's comments about youth unemployment. "We are looking for work. It is not as easy as simply getting a job."

Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Mark Stone called on both parties to address youth joblessness by increasing the payroll tax threshold to $850,000, which he said would cut business costs and encourage employers to take on young workers.

Redirecting vocational education and training funding to support the hospitality, tourism, retail and administration sectors would also help, he said.

Rebecca Scott, the co-founder of STREAT, a social enterprise that trains disadvantaged young people in Melbourne at its cafes and coffee roasting business, said it was vital young people were given basic job skills in a supportive environment.

"Industries where there are low barriers to entry, such as hospitality, are really critical," she said.

Ms Scott said support services were too fragmented, with someone having to go to multiple agencies for help. "All those fragments mean that young people fall between the cracks."

State Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said Victoria faced "a generation lost to unemployment" and state government cuts to TAFE had exacerbated the situation.

"It is very difficult to find a job out there at the moment, and cutting TAFE makes that difficult situation much worse," he said.

Inner Northern Local Learning and Employment Network executive officer David Kennedy said business had the greatest capacity to resolve unemployment issues.

He said some of the state government funds given to training providers should be linked to employment outcomes. "Are we doing training for training's sake?" Mr Kennedy said.

He said cuts to the TAFE sector had reduced the course options available to young people and increased their fees.

- with Steve Lillebuen and Deborah Gough