The Scottish Government has been accused of failing disabled people after it emerged just 103 took up places on the SNP’s flagship apprentice scheme.
Labour said the Nationalist administration should feel a “burning sense of shame” after a minister admitted less than 0.5% of Modern Apprentices had a disability.
Annabelle Ewing also confessed that just 361 of the 25,000 on the flagship programme last year were from an ethnic minority.
Labour MSP Neil Findlay said the figures showed the SNP’s rhetoric on creating jobs for young people was just “hot air”.
The Scottish Government insisted the numbers of disabled people joining the Modern Apprenticeship scheme had improved recently.
Mr Findlay said: “There is no better investment Scotland can make in developing better careers and opportunities for our young people than a Modern Apprenticeship.
“The route to a good job and the chance to have a fair go in life is not, and should never be, one size fits all.
“These Modern Apprenticeships should be open to every young Scot regardless of background. The SNP should feel a burning sense of shame looking at these figures.
“A disability should never be a barrier to a better working life.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “It remains clear that there are still significant barriers to young disabled and vulnerable people fulfilling their potential by taking up sustainable careers.
“Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy – Developing the Young Workforce outlines a number of further actions to tackle inequality and we have given Skills Development Scotland £500,000 to move forward with an equalities action plan, published last month, that will also benefit care leavers, disabled people and minority groups.”
A spokesman for Skills Development Scotland, which manage the scheme, added: “Recent figures for the current financial year show a significant increase in the number of new starts declaring a disability.”