On Sunday, Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was wrong to "demonise" people on benefits, but there was a minority of people who could work and were not doing so.
He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "Labour has clear plans to say to every young person who has been unemployed for more than a year that they need to go back into work, and we'll make sure they get a job, and every older person unemployed for more than two years.
"I think there are lots of people who are looking for work, who are desperate for work and who find that Britain is in the midst of a massive crisis of being able to find work in some places, a big cost-of-living crisis, that our country faces."
But a Conservative spokesman said: "Labour are copying a Conservative policy that already exists and that is superior to the one they are proposing.
"After 13 years of Labour running our education system, many young people looking for work do not have the English and Maths skills they need to get a job.
"That's why, starting in some areas at first, anyone aged 18 to 21 signing on without these basic skills will be required to undertake training from day one or lose their benefits."
He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "Labour has clear plans to say to every young person who has been unemployed for more than a year that they need to go back into work, and we'll make sure they get a job, and every older person unemployed for more than two years.
"I think there are lots of people who are looking for work, who are desperate for work and who find that Britain is in the midst of a massive crisis of being able to find work in some places, a big cost-of-living crisis, that our country faces."
But a Conservative spokesman said: "Labour are copying a Conservative policy that already exists and that is superior to the one they are proposing.
"After 13 years of Labour running our education system, many young people looking for work do not have the English and Maths skills they need to get a job.
"That's why, starting in some areas at first, anyone aged 18 to 21 signing on without these basic skills will be required to undertake training from day one or lose their benefits."
