Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has called for councils across Wales to create more apprenticeships.
The Assembly Member for South Wales Central made the call while on the campaign trail in Caerphilly with Plaid Cymru candidate Nathan Flanagan, 18, who is bidding to become one of the youngest councillors in Wales.
One of the main policies of the recently-launched Plaid Cymru national local government manifesto is the creation of paid apprenticeship and training schemes to support young people.
Plaid-controlled Caerphilly County Borough Council has created more than 150 training places with such a scheme.
Ms Wood said: “We are living in difficult economic times and unemployment is far too high in Wales; it is particularly bad for under 24s.
“All levels of government need to be doing everything they can to create opportunities and avoid the creation of another lost generation as we saw in the 1980s.
“Local authorities have a big part to play by creating the type of apprenticeship scheme that Caerphilly Council has already established. I applaud their forward-thinking in this area and the impact they have had on the local economy.
“If we make our local economy a priority, an apprenticeship scheme like Caerphilly’s should be part of a package of measures aimed at re-building our communities from the ground up. We must make a big push to ensure our communities have a viable future.”
Nathan, who is on a plumbing course at Ystrad Mynach college, is standing for election in the Moriah ward in the northern reaches of Caerphilly County Borough.
After campaigning in the Moriah ward during her visit on Thursday, Ms Wood later visited the Real Crisps factory in Crumlin and joined up with Plaid councillors and candidates in Caerphilly town centre to canvas shoppers.