It's (ironically enough) a problem of unequal distributions. There are lots of not-college-educated lineworkers at auto plants that rake in lavish benefits while equally qualified (modulo experience) younger people who would love the work can't get in.

But then, that's only to be expected from above-market-rate wages...

Yes, combined with the facts that workers in China, Mexico, and many other places will do the same work for a tiny fraction of EU wages, and can also be fired at will rather than enjoy extensive worker protection laws such as in Europe.

like which part of Europe? Greece, Italy and Spain? I think the location has nothing to do whether the vocational model is working or not. It is because of the country's problem, not the curriculum itself. The Dutch, Germany and Scandinavian has strong vocational program in their education system and they're doing fine with it.

All EU countries except Germany, as well as Norway, have higher youth umemployment rates than the US. Germany is not much lower than the US.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/217448/seasonally-adjuste...

http://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-unemployment...

https://ycharts.com/indicators/norway_youth_unemployment_rat...

Europe is not a monolithic uniform state. Spain has very high unemployment in the 20-30 year old population, Norway has very little, and most countries are somewhere in between.

Just as unemployment in the US is not evenly spread over all states and industries.

One major difference between the Scandinavian countries, especially Norway, and the rest is that not only is vocational education alive and well but a person with a qualification in, say, plumbing or electrical installation work is not looked down on.

Norweigan youth unemployment was 10% in December 2015[1], which is pretty high, though not as bad as Spain or Greece. It's higher than the US.

Of course Europe is not monolithic nor uniform. Nonetheless one can discern valid generalities. It is true that youth unemployment is generally quite high, and indeed constitutes a major social problem throughout the EU.

It's better or worse than average in some particular countries, but it's definitely a much bigger problem throughout Europe than in the US. Only Germany has a lower youth unemployment rate than the US in the entire EU.

* http://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-unemployment...

* http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/... * http://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-unemployment...

[1] https://ycharts.com/indicators/norway_youth_unemployment_rat...