Crisis accounts of the youth labour market are not supported by the findings outlined in this report. Gary N. Marks also disputes claims that young people who are not fully engaged in full-time work or study are at risk of an unsuccessful school-to-work transition.

This is research report number 31 in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) research program. Among the report's key findings is that many early school leavers progress well in the first few years after leaving school. Taken together, the results indicate that during the late teenage years school non-completers are not unequivocally 'worse off'...

This 1992 report, commonly known as the 'Mayer report', puts forward that young people need seven key competencies to be able to participate effectively in the emerging forms of work and work organisation.