The boss of Next has blasted Labour's 'disastrous' employment policies for causing a 'dramatic fall' in job opportunities for young people.

Simon Wolfson said the number of people applying for every job in one of its stores had climbed from ten to 19 over the past couple of years.

'You can really see a dramatic fall in entry-level opportunities,' he told the BBC.

'That doubling of applicants for shop jobs is indicative of just how big the crisis is in youth unemployment at the moment.'

It came as work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden bemoaned the demise of the Saturday job in sectors such as retail for helping to fuel the crisis.

But Lord Wolfson said it was the government's own policies that were blame – with national insurance and minimum wage hikes making it too costly to take more young people on.

And he said Labour's workers' rights rules providing guaranteed hours for staff would make it even harder to take extra staff on for weekend work or to cover busy seasons such as Christmas.

His comments appeared to be backed up by a new poll from the Institute of Directors showing 86 per cent of bosses believe the Employment Rights Act will harm UK growth, with many saying it will make them less likely to hire new staff and more likely to use robots instead.

But Lord Wolfson's comments prompted a furious response from the government as it defended the rules, with a business department spokesperson describing the Tory peer's remarks as 'neither new nor surprising' and taking a swipe over his large pay packet.

The spokesperson added: 'Lord Wolfson, who earned more than £7 million last year, will understand just how important our measures to make work pay are for the financial and job security of working people.'

It comes after figures last week showed employment among 16 to 24 year olds has soared to 16.2 per cent, the highest since early 2015 and more than three times the overall unemployment rate of 5 per cent.

Separate data shows that the number of young people classed as not in employment, education or training (NEETs) has soared close to a million.

A report from former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn this week is expected to throw a fresh spotlight on the issue revealing that seven in ten young people who receive health and disability benefits still make claims a decade later.

Tory business spokesman Andrew Griffith said: 'Labour were warned time and time again their NI hikes, employment red tape and above inflation increase in state set wages would lead precisely to a catastrophe of youth unemployment.'

Lord Wolfson said the government must reduce the tax burden on 'entry level' employment. He said employer national insurance hikes and minimum wage increases last year had pushed up the cost of hiring such workers by 14 per cent.

'That has to be reversed,' he said. He added that boosting the wider economy was also vital.

'Youth unemployment is really a symptom of a wider problem with employment in the economy. If you've got fewer jobs, the people who suffer most are the people with the least experience and that is the youngest.'

Lord Wolfson said the problem will worsen when new rules on part-time working come into force.

These will force employers to offer guaranteed hours to those on zero or low hour contracts based on hours they have recently worked – but many businesses complain that this takes no account of seasonal changes in demand for employees, or the wish for some to work flexibly.

'The result of that is we will offer fewer extra hours at Christmas. That's going to be bad news for our colleagues, who want the extra hours – particularly students who in holiday time need the extra hours. And of course, bad news for customers because service won't be as good.'

Lord Wolfson said it was 'going to get much harder' to offer Saturday, summer and Christmas jobs.

'The risk is, you then have to contract those ever and of course you can't afford to have the same number of people in your shop in February as you have in the run-up to Christmas,' he said.

The Next chief added that Labour's pledge of higher wages for workers and greater employment rights 'hasn't worked' and accused it of 'coming into government with nice-sounding slogans that are politically easy but economically… disastrous'.

Separately, the IoD said Labour's workers' rights rules meant 63 per cent of bosses were less likely to hire new staff and 57 per cent were more likely to invest in automation.

IoD policy advisor Alex Hall-Chen said: 'These findings are a clear sign that the Employment Rights Act is damaging economic growth and job creation in the UK.

'Business leaders are already halting or scaling back plans to hire in the UK, outsourcing roles more aggressively, and automating roles where possible in direct response to the reforms.'