New Report Reveals the Struggle Worldwide to Prepare Young People for Work
Manno: While some countries provide clear classroom-to-career pathways, many — including the U.S. — leave teens unready for the next stage of life.
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Too many countries send young people into adulthood without the skills or support they need to thrive at work. That is the central warning of , the latest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s annual series of global education reviews.
This year’s edition devotes particular attention to career education, workforce readiness and the critical transition from grades 10-12 — what the report calls — into employment or further study. The findings are stark: While some countries provide clear pathways from classroom to career, many — including the United States — leave too many teenagers unready for the next stage of life.
Released each autumn since 2010, the report compares data from 38 member nations and about a dozen partner economies. The current version covers more than a billion students worldwide. It is filled with tables and charts on topics from preschool enrollment to the wage premium for education and training beyond high school, including diplomas, academic degrees and vocational certificates — all of which it groups under what it calls tertiary education.
The report confirms that more schooling typically means stronger earnings and more stable employment, and that adults with postsecondary degrees usually enjoy the highest wages and lowest unemployment. Yet it warns that credentials alone are not enough. In every country, a significant share of young people, including some university graduates, lack the literacy, numeracy and digital skills that employers demand.
Depending upon the country, the decisive years for young people are ages 15 to 19, when students finish compulsory schooling and face choices about university, vocational programs or work. The report highlights that upper-secondary programs, whether academic or vocational, are pivotal to workplace success. In systems with strong vocational education and training, young people typically move smoothly into paid apprenticeships that confer recognized credentials.
Programs such as career-focused community college certificates or industry-recognized credentials can serve as effective bridges between high school and either employment or further study.
Yet many nations, including the United States, lack a systematic and robust tier of such programs that have a direct link with employers, leaving some high school graduates thinking their only option is a university degree.
Finally, the report underscores how background still influences destiny. Students from low-income families or with less-educated parents are markedly less likely to complete degrees or other credentials, or to find stable work after high school. Without intentional policies, career education may widen, not close, opportunity gaps.
The U.S. illustrates both the strengths and the shortcomings that the report highlights. Here are five examples.
1. General versus vocational pathways. Unlike countries such as Switzerland, Germany or Austria, the U.S. typically does not have a distinct, mainstream vocational track in high school. What does exist is usually tucked into career and technical education or electives rather than embedded in a structured vocational education system. This gives U.S. students flexibility but deprives them of an employer-linked route into skilled trades.
2. Apprenticeship numbers are growing but still small. The number of apprenticeship programs in the U.S. has expanded sharply, with over 667,000 active apprentices in 2024. This includes growth beyond the construction trades in fields like health care, information technology and education. Women now make up roughly 14% of participants. Yet relative to the general workforce population, the U.S. is far behind Germany or Switzerland, where the majority of teenagers enter paid apprenticeships that blend classroom and workplace learning.
3. Work-study and youth employment rates. Roughly 1 in 5 U.S. 18- to 24-year-olds report that they combine work and study in some way, which is similar to the OECD average. But that’s far below leaders like the Netherlands, where just over half do both. And around 14% of U.S. youth are unemployed, or what the report describes as being in the “NEET” category — not in education, employment or training — also around the OECD average.
4. Community colleges and dual enrollment. Many OECD countries have formal and systematic education and training programs that bridge the gap between school and work. In the U.S., community colleges and dual-enrollment programs play this bridging role. Nearly 2.5 million high school students take college courses for credit, and early college high schools show significant in degree attainment. These efforts partially substitute for the formal vocational bridges that are common elsewhere
5. Access and support services. The U.S. also shares OECD’s concern about young people who are not looking for work. Barriers such as transportation, mental health and caregiving responsibilities often stand in their way. Federal youth programs and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act offer patchwork assistance, but personal supports remain fragmented compared with the integrated guidance available in many European systems.
But examining the findings on high-performing countries illuminates what the U.S. might learn from them. For example, well-structured vocational options need not limit the pursuit of further education that leads to a college degree. This is typically accomplished by creating clear occupational pathways that provide opportunities for students to follow a course sequence that leads to a collection of credentials that eventually lead to a degree. Many graduates of Swiss or German apprenticeships later complete what we would call associate or bachelor’s degrees.
One illustration of how this earn-and-learn approach is being duplicated in the U.S. is found in the effort to create that integrate on-the-job training with an accredited academic degree. and are two examples.
is Switzerland’s approach to apprenticeships, where almost 60% of students who would be in the equivalent of U.S. grades 10 to 12 enter vocational programs that combine three to four days a week of paid company training with classroom instruction. Industry groups co-design curricula and pay apprentice wages. The Swiss model also features early career exploration and allows movement between vocational and academic tracks at multiple points. Indiana and Colorado are at the forefront of adapting this model to their states’ needs.
The OECD analysis suggests four priorities for American educators and policymakers going forward.
- Make work-based learning a common experience. Opportunities like internships and apprenticeships should be routine for young people in high school, so earning and learning overlap rather than conflict.
- Double down on bridge programs. Continue to expand dual-enrollment and early college high school initiatives, especially for students least likely to complete a four-year degree.
- Implement wraparound supports for vulnerable youth. Integrate career guidance and navigation, transportation and mental-health services with work-based programs to reduce the share of young people who are not working, training or in school.
- Strengthen credential transparency. Ensure that certificates and associate degrees are based on the skills that employers value, reducing mismatches and boosting confidence in non-bachelor’s routes.
Education at a Glance 2025 makes clear that America’s young people need more explicit and direct pathways into work — pathways that blend a strong academic foundation with work-based opportunities. Achieving that will require schools, employers and policymakers to treat the school-to-work transition as a shared responsibility, not an afterthought. Without such deliberate action, too many young people will continue to leave classrooms with diplomas in hand but no clear route to a fulfilling career.
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Bruno V. Manno is a senior adviser at the, leads its Pathways to Opportunity What Works Lab and is a former U.S. assistant secretary of education for policy. Follow him on .
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