Young people´s transitions from school to work and adulthood have become increasingly protracted and risky during the last two decades. Today, more than one third of young Europeans aged 15-24 are NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) or youth with weak establish¬ment at the labor market, and the average unemployment rate is nearly twice as high as in the whole working population. Poverty during childhood and adolescence and short or incomplete education are the factors with the strongest connection to unemployment and social marginalization, and immigrant youth are over-represented in this group. Vernacular education politics and youth politics differ depending on local conditions and cultures, but increasingly they also incorporate a common enterprise or market culture - ideas of individualism, competition and self-governance. “… like the rest of society, they (young people) face greater individualism and competitive pressures and do not necessarily share the same opportunities (Commission of the European Communities 2009: An EU Strategy for Youth – Investing and Empowering). Departing from some Scandinavian examples, the keynote presentation focuses the ways different education and youth policies in Europe are designed to meet conflicting demands of cultural and economic change.