Ok, first off, I don't give a shit who you are or what you do, that's not what this is about and unless your job has to do with looking at such topics in a scientific and non subjective way, which I did not read from you, your opinion matters just as much as anyone elses, just like mine.
Coming back to nicer grounds, yes, for the fields you have mentioned, that's absolutely true. Those fields are quite critical and in my opinion should be gated by a diploma. You don't just get to call yourself and architect and draft a building that collapses. Same with a chemist and accidentally poisoning the groundwater or being a scientist in general and wasting a lot of time and money, and so on. Also, please notice how I said I couldn't think of any more, just genuinely low effort, was not meaning to say there weren't.
I think that generally any job that has no immediate severe repercussions and where your employer can reasonably give you a probabtion period, you can just go ahead and do with enough knowledge. Such include (I'm only listing exotic ones, since that's what we're seemingly focusing on in this thread):
Technical writer
Salesperson
Consultant
Data Analyst
Project Manager
And in europe there is literally no gate to entry to lower level jobs like technical support or warehouse. Keep in mind that the vast majority of workers are not in the position to be a lawyer or a scientist.
But even with all that considered, my point still stands: The jobs you can't do without a diploma, that's like 1% of jobs. (Likely incorrect percentage)
Aaaand on top of that, when you're in europe, you don't even really have to go to uni. Sure, there are lectures you need to technically be present for, but you can just go, say you're there, then leave. Then you have to pay like in the lower end of a few thousand bucks, which the university will even just straight up give to you if you're poor and you can just take your exams. I don't see nothing wrong with the exams, they're good in any way.
What's the problem here is the privatization of job opportunities, which for all intents and purposes doesn't exist on this side of the lake. This is a uniquely american problem we're talking about here.
I hIrE pEoPlE