Interesting point there Jango.
I suggest that (if you are right, and I think you probably are) it comes down to two things:-
(1) There's a serious social stigma in the UK to not being gainfully employed for a period of time, this even applying to prolonged periods of study any time after about the age of 22.
(2) The training and education industry in Britain (with the obvious exception of flying training, which is a bit of an oddball in that respect) is not geared up to part-time or self-monitored learning of new skills with the exceptions of...
(a) Further training within an existing career.
(b) Poorly paid semi-skilled work such as the bottom end of catering, or relatively menial computing jobs.
Arguably both are a problem for UK PLC.
G