The Government has been urged to extend state-funded training to all workers facing redundancy as part of measures to lessen the impact of the looming recession.
The TUC said a so-called Train to Gain initiative aimed at encouraging smaller firms to train staff should be expanded to all workplaces where job cuts were threatened.
The union organisation also called on ministers to revise a rule preventing people from studying for more than 16 hours a week from claiming unemployment and housing benefit.
General secretary Brendan Barber said: "Providing more training will give the millions of people who have lost their jobs a better chance of returning to work as quickly as possible.
"The Government deserves credit for increasing investment in training, such as the extra £140 million announced this week to boost apprenticeships.
"But more can be done, such as expanding Train to Gain to all those at risk of redundancy and removing the 16-hour rule that discourages benefit claimants taking further education courses.
"As well as the short-term need for training, the Government must also look at the kind of economy we want to emerge from the recession. We want to see a fairer, more balanced economy, with a greater emphasis on high value jobs.
"To do this, the Government must ensure that UK workers have the skills to take up new jobs in high performing sectors like our creative industries and low energy manufacturing."
