The Council of Trade Unions says the Government needs to invest more in getting people off the unemployment benefit and back into work on state projects.
President Helen Kelly says the Government has produced some good initiatives, such as the YouthStart programme, but she believes there should be many more.
Ms Kelly is challenging the truism that employment lags behind an improving economy, saying it does not have to be that way.
She says there are many infrastructure projects that could be got under way using people currently on the unemployment benefit.
