> apprenticeships are typically something a person engages in during their teens or 20s, and therefore, whatever is learned during that apprenticeship, the skills can potentially be out-of-date 20 years later.

This is strictly a cultural bias, in the same way in the US apprenticing at all is antagonized, and can easily change.

I know you mean that Germany has that cultural perception still but still has higher employment matching, I'm just saying it is not a technical problem that you can only apprentice in your early years.