More than 20 per cent said that they would not recruit teenagers with fewer than five good GCSEs or the vocational equivalent, and 15 per cent said that they would ignore the CVs completely, according to a survey for the Learning and Skills Council.

The findings come as about 750,000 pupils receive their GCSE results today amid fears that more than half will fail to gain five good passes, including English and maths. Last year 44.3 per cent of teenagers achieved five GCSE grades at C or above, including English and maths. The advantage to securing more qualifications can be counted in take-home pay, said the recruiters.

Of the 412 employers polled, most said that they would pay starting salaries of an extra £1,700 to an employee with five good GCSEs or GNVQ equivalent than to those who had passed fewer. While 79 per cent thought that applicants who achieved fewer GCSEs would struggle in their company, 65 per cent also believed that it would become even harder for them to find a job in future without these qualifications.

Julia Dowd, director of young people’s learning at the LSC, said: “Employment opportunities open to young people are massively enhanced by staying on in education and training. By not dropping out, young people significantly improve their job prospects.”

Anthony Thompson, head of skills at the CBI, said that five good GCSEs were not only the minimum benchmark, but employers expected teenagers also to be able to read instructions, write clearly and do simple arithmetic.

“Companies will be asking whether candidates can engage with people, and whether they have the reliability, imagination and skills to succeed,” he added. “All these issues are equally important as exam results — employers are requiring better skills, especially as there has been a sharp decline in lower-skilled jobs.”

Britain has one of the worst staying-on rates in post-16 education in the Western world, with about 20 per cent of 17-year-olds neither in education nor training in 2005. Only Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal and Turkey had a lower proportion in college.

Rod Kenyon, head of the Apprentice Ambassadors Network, said that those who fail the benchmark should not lose hope. As director of the British Gas engineering academy, Mr Kenyon takes on about 1,000 apprentices a year, half of whom are under 24. The minimum requirement is four GCSEs, but attitude is the most important criterion for being taken on, he said.

“They have to have the right attitude and be able to read and write, but we have to send them into people’s homes too. So if you turn up with ten GCSEs and are a pain in the backside, we won’t want you,” he said. “It’s about getting the balance right and when employers are sifting through thousands of applications, they have to employ artificial hurdles. That’s not to say we are all obsessed with certificates, but we can’t ignore them either.”

The LSC survey coincides with the news that a scheme designed to prepare teenagers for the workplace had failed to improve their basic English and maths skills.

The Government’s “In- creased Flexibility for 14-16 Year Olds Programme” allows students who are less keen on academic subjects to spend time on work-related study.

The initiative, introduced in 2002, aimed to boost pupils’ attainment in national qualifications. But a study by the National Foundation for Educational Research has found that pupils on the scheme achieved worse GCSE results in maths and English than similar students who were not taking part.

• A businessman has offered to help sponsor the education of a care leaver, after reading about her plight yesterday in The Times. Aradia Pavey, 16, from London, has had 35 placements in care homes and with foster families. She left school with no GCSEs and blamed it on her many moves. Andrew Milne, who runs a property maintenance company in Isleworth, West London, was touched by her courage and has offered to help to finance her studies for NVQs in childcare. “I liked her attitude,” he said.

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