This book presents the most comprehensive study to date of education and training for 16-18-year-olds in the United Kingdom. Using a large and continuing national survey of young people in England and Wales, the authors trace the fortunes of three groups of boys and girls who reach school-leaving age in successive years. Between 1988 and 1993, they follow each group from gaining the General Certificate in School Education through the first years after compulsory schooling, mapping dramatic changes in the way they acquire skills and qualifications, and the routes they take to enter the labor market.