> [...] and that has not saved them from having overqualified people and too few jobs for them.

They had labour market inefficiencies and weak demand.

The US labour market is a bit more flexible. And since they are issuing their own currency, they can always print more to stoke demand. (Ideally, the Fed would target nominal GDP.)

Good news: the Germans are having a much lower unemployment rate these days than in the late 90s.