The government must give city-regions the appropriate powers to get the unemployed into work, according to a new study.

Greater Manchester and Merseyside need more powers to plan and deliver skills and employment programmes, say the Centre for Cities and the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.

One way to achieve this would be to set up statutory Employment and Skills Boards.

The government could also devolve employment and skills funding to large city-regions like Manchester and Liverpool.

Although benefit payments would still be set nationally, cities could be given clear incentives to reduce worklessness, the study said.

Adam Marshall, head of policy at the Centre for Cities, said that cities need localised employment policies in order to compete globally.

"Devolving power to cities and towns would help get people back to work - and boost local economies," he added.

Centre for Cities has long argued that spending and revenue-raising powers should be handed over to Britain's biggest city-regions, starting with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.