A comparison study of the school-to-work transitions of young people aged 16-19 in Germany and England was followed up several years later when the former subjects were in their early twenties. Research was conducted through interviews, case studies, and studies of labor market trends. The analysis of the transition of the young people studied identified four types of transition behavior: strategic, step by step, wait and see, and taking chances; it classified career patterns as progressive, upward drift, stagnant, downward drift, and repaired. The study found that the German system better prepared young people for the labor market, but that it was more unforgiving of those who had not been good students as well as more rigid, making career change difficult. In contrast, the English system was more flexible, responding almost constantly to changing conditions, but it encouraged too many young people to leave school at age 16 and failed to help them to gain transferable skills and a long-term perspective. In both countries, resources for helping young people were available, but they were not sufficient to overcome difficult family situations or economic problems. In both countries, lack of jobs, rather than individual fault, was also a root cause of transition problems of the young people. The study recommended that governments in both countries develop structured policies for transitions for young people. (Contains 135 references.) (KC)