the main differences were that compulsory education in USA appears to be up to age 18 and until recently it was 16 in England, but now the law has been changed and every young person up to age 18 in England has to have at least some kind of part time education.
After age 16 young people do not need to attend full time school and can study whilst working, but it still means they need to take some kind of exam (which their employers need to find time for and liaise with the training organisations).
TBH where I work the HR dept only check for the English and Maths GCSEs and that they don’t have anything too horrendous on their DBS (criminal records check). Of course you don’t need a degree to work in the kitchen or laundry or in the admin office; but in all these you do need to read, write and count.
My employers do take into account that people need time to mature and sometimes make mistakes in life – were that not the case they would have never employed me, but the healthcare sector isn’t seen as the “coolest” or best paying (its not as bad though as made out to be), and most of the vacancies are for frontline staff and admin workers (it is busy, demands a high quality standard for any task (otherwise people can actually come to harm) and not everyone can cope with that sort of work environment.
One thing I really feel does lack in this country (and quite likely many others) is training and career paths for non (or less) academic people and it was like that since I was one. There are many who would like to do useful things with their youth and have the brains and energy to do so; but struggle with the environments of academic 6th form (A level classes) and University, but if you do move away from these defined tracks life can get much harder even if you do get back on (it is IMO why so many folk I know have even got into crime or had serious mental health problems).
