The transition from education to working life in the European Union (EU) was examined through a review of data from the following sources: the European Labour Force Survey; The Vocational Education and Training Data Collection (an annual collection of data produced by Eurostat); and national data supplied to the European Training Foundation by national observatories in the EU member states. The data were synthesized into overviews of the following aspects of the school-to-work transition throughout the EU: (1) the institutional characteristics of national education systems and the delivery of general and vocational education; (2) the point at which the transition process begins in individual EU member states; (3) the specific place that employers allocate to labor market entrants and their occupational pathways and position in relation to their elders; (4) the school-to-work transition in Central and East European countries; and (5) the integration of young people into working life and European Community policies. (Fifty-seven tables/figures/boxes are included. The following items are appended: list of indicators; information about construction of selected study variables; the theoretical ages of obtaining diplomas throughout the EU; additional tables; and a typology of labor market entrants' regulation by country and educational attainment. The bibliography contains 72 references.) (MN)