Actually in China the issue as portrayed by the article is that jobs might exist but require social connections to get. So moving to get a job is essentially self-defeating, and the only real option would be for these people to create their own jobs/start enterprises locally.

In America the issue is different. Often, programmes simply are not very good or even adequate. There are top education programmes in the states, but there are also utter rubbish ones. See the negative connotation attached to CS degrees for an example. As a result a generic degree doesn't really count for much.