There should be a ranked-preference matching system for careers and education coming out of high school.
Students rank preferences and are assigned a partial government scholarship to:
- A certain degree
- A certain apprenticeship
- A certain job (employee and employer would both be given some benefit in the form of tax credits, a wage addition, or whatever).
The assignment is based on:
- Job market needs (projected and present)
- Student's aptitudes
- Student's preferences
And students would still be free to do anything they want, they just forfeit the scholarship/subsidy if they don't accept their "Socially Recommended Workforce Training Assignment".
Boom.
Hire me, government.