A lot of good stuff has been written here already. I’d like to add some observations from my side of the Atlantic:

1. there was a push for more people to go to college up until ca. 10 years ago, since it was assumed that a highly automated service industry would need less physical jobs
2. as a result, more people went to college who never should have gone to college
3. as a result, trade degrees have been seen as worse, and have issues with finding good applicants
4. as a result, in the last 10 or so years, there has been a push for people to get into trades
5. this trend is even more extreme in Eastern Europe, where you can find people with, say, geography degrees working in ‘basic’ office jobs
6. a bunch of local, external factors come into play as well, like the end of mandatory miltiary service in Germany meaning that the averade college applicant is likely to be younger and less experienced

I have to say that I’d probably trust someone with a 30-year old advanced electrical trade degree way than someone with a fresh bachelor in EE, even ignoring the work experience. That does not mean that college is a scam. Trade degrees (ideally) teach you skills, college degrees (hopefully) teach you a way of thinking. Both of those have value.