The Tories published figures which show that 12,000 working age households in the Doncaster Central constituency last year had no-one in a full-time job.

This equates to 43 per cent of households - 17 per cent above the national average.

In both Sheffield Brightside and Sheffield Central, 42 per cent of households had no-one working full time in 2007.

This figure was 39 per cent in Barnsley Central and 33 per cent in Sheffield Attercliffe, Barnsley West and Penistone and Rother Valley.

But the figures were branded "misleading" by the Government because of the big growth in recent years in the number of students, people taking early retirement and older workers staying on in part-time work.

The Conservatives admitted the figures were only a "piece of the jigsaw puzzle".

What do you think? Are parents to blame for their children not having jobs? Post your comment below.
But Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling insisted they still indicate a level of "worklessness" that remains hidden in the government's official unemployment statistics.

And he went further, blaming an "absence of parental ambition" on the "extraordinary" number of families without a full-time worker.

"There are too many communities where parents no longer know what good parenting is," he said.

"Who else but from your parents do you get a sense as you grow up of going out and going to work each day?

"It's simply not possible to say that it is down to the fact that there are no jobs.

"I think it is much more about people not knowing how to get out and find the jobs, not having the support they need to do so.

"People who are really alienated from the concept of work. It's just not something that it is a feature of life in many families."

He said the consequence of the figures is that is that a "cycle" of worklessness follows on to the next generation.

"Those households will be more likely to engender children who will end up workless themselves."

But a Department of Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "These figures paint a misleading picture.

"In the last decade we've seen big growth in the number of students, people taking early retirement and older workers staying in employment above working age - all of which has an effect on the number of households with people in part-time work.

"There has been a growth of 3.1 million people in employment since 1997, three quarters of whom are in full-time jobs.

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