Long-term youth unemployment in Barnsley has risen by 237 per cent in the past two years, according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics.
The number of people out of work for over 12 months in Barnsley East has also risen by 113 per cent.
The figures show that in January, 955 people in Barnsley East had been unemployed for 12 months or more.
That has now gone up to 980. Long term youth unemployment - that is 18 to 24-year-olds claiming Jobseekers' Allowance for more than a year - has risen from 150 in July 2011 to 505 in July 2013.
Michael Dugher, MP for Barnsley East, criticised ministers' failure to get people back to work.
He said: "Failure to address this problem risks creating another lost generation."
Mr Dugher has called for a compulsory jobs guarantee for anyone out of work for more than two years.
Reintroducing a tax on bank bonuses has also been suggested.
It would pay the wages of young unemployed people taken on by businesses, who would be expected to meet the costs of their training.
