Vic jobs scheme finally getting traction

Victoria's flagship Back to Work jobs scheme has made more than 4000 payments to put disadvantaged people into work, after the struggling scheme got a cash injection.

Just 164 employers had taken up the $2000 and $1000 payments by October last year, so they were bumped up to $12,000 and $5000.

"There was a fair degree of criticism of the scheme in terms of its take-up rate," Treasurer Tim Pallas told reporters on Monday.

Since October, the Back to Work scheme has made 4282 payments to employers to put long-term and youth unemployed into work.

Mr Pallas said the scheme was getting Victoria closer to its goal of 100,000 full-time jobs in the two years since Labor took power.

More than 52,000 full-time jobs had been created since November 2014.

"It's always been a stretch target and we're not apologetic for that, it's the sort of thing governments should do," Mr Pallas said.

But shadow treasurer Michael O'Brien said the "flagship" jobs program had failed to reach its targets.

"It's about as successful a flagship as the Titanic," Mr O'Brien told reporters.

He also said the 100,000 full-time jobs promise was never a stretch goal.

"This was a written pledge from the premier," Mr O'Brien said.