Employment minister says scheme works enormously well and is entirely voluntary, after protest at Tesco store
Critics of the government's work experience scheme are "job snobs", the employment minister has said.
Chris Grayling defended the project after a Tesco store was forced to close on Saturday when it was invaded by protesters angered by a job advert seeking permanent workers in exchange for expenses and jobseeker's allowance.
Twelve Right to Work campaigners disrupted the chain's Westminster branch and police were called.
Under the sector-based work academy scheme, unemployed people undertake unpaid work experience or they lose benefits.
Grayling said: "The allegations about this scheme are absurd and those who are particularly targeting the supermarkets, which have been very helpful to us in supporting this scheme, are frankly job snobs about the nature of the work those supermarkets are doing."
He said the project helped tackle the record number of young jobless people, boosting their CVs with six-week work placements.
He said on Sky News's Murnaghan programme: "I praise Tesco for offering unpaid work experience, short-term, to young people because it helps them."
He said the scheme worked enormously well and was entirely voluntary. "They don't have to do the work experience placements, but something like half of them are coming off benefits as a result of those placements. Surely that's really good news."
Tesco said it had amended the "misunderstood" advert and blamed a computer error by Jobcentre Plus. Unions called for high street chains to boycott the programme.
The shadow employment minister, Stephen Timms, said: "This scheme has lost the confidence of both young people and business, with key companies that should be providing genuine work experience sceptical of its design and motives. The government must get a grip and make sure work experience is real, meaningful and helps lead to work."