Most of the new roles will be in outreach services in Warrnambool, Portland, Hamilton and possibly Corangamite Shire.

It's thanks to a $760,000 state government working for Victoria investment that has boosted Brophy's Youth Services staffing by about 15 per cent.

Brophy executive manager youth services Kathy Sanderson said the new roles were "two-pronged", employing new workers in a tough job market who then helped young people find a pathway out of unemployment among other challenges.

She said the pandemic's restrictions had hit young people particularly hard, with about 250 people aged 15 to 24 now in the organisation's youth unemployment service.

"The potential when so many people are broadly unemployed and so many have experience and a job history, it will be most likely that those without experience and a job history will be left behind," Ms Sanderson said.

"We are concerned a lot of young people will drop away from their pathway and future, and we could lose them for years."

She said isolation had also contributed to mental health conditions.

"Having a job, going to school or training, seeing your peers and developing your independent living skills is crucial to young people," Ms Sanderson said.

The outreach workers will engage with the region's youths to encourage those in need to use Brophy's services and meet other young people.

But Ms Sanderson said the workers would need to become creative about doing their traditionally face-to-face job in a pandemic.

"Traditionally you would go out and find young people where they are," she said. "We will need to be using a variety of techniques to locate and engage with young people and assess their needs."

It comes as Wannon's Youth Allowance recipients, whose payments increased to $1100 a fortnight in the past four months, nearly doubled from 640 people in December last year to 1151 in May.

"It is at a concerning level the number of young people on Youth Allowance," Mr Sanderson said.

"There's a lot of young people who we don't know about because they may not be receiving centrelink benefits."

Brophy is a part of a coalition of youth services, led by Youth Affairs Council Victoria, that secured $6.77 million from the working for Victoria fund to create new jobs including the nine new workers.

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.