Britain has attempted over the past decade to develop German-style youth apprenticeships through its Youth Training Scheme (YTS). YTS has the basic attributes considered essential to bridging school and work. The greatest achievement of YTS is that large numbers of employers were persuaded to provide work experience positions on short notice, and YTS was able to become a massive program very quickly. Employers have been willing to participate because the flexible and decentralized nature of the program imposes only a minor administrative burden and YTS provides help in screening new hires for entry-level jobs. The main benefit from YTS is that it helps school leavers secure permanent jobs. Unfortunately, the goal of securing jobs has conflicted with the goal of providing skills, with as many as 80 percent dropping out to take full-time employment with the employer providing the work experience. Although one goal was to help employers move toward more efficient and flexible operating systems based on higher-skill, broader jobs, YTS may actually have created incentives that retarded efforts to reform work since it provides employers with a steady stream of virtually costless new trainees. Lessons for the United States include the need for employer incentives to provide high skills and to introduce new, more flexible and efficient systems of organizing work by raising the skill levels in the work force. Appendixes include 22 footnotes. Contains 76 references. (YLB)