On average, young people who complete Year 12 tend to have more successful transitions from education to work than those who do not. However, in recent years there has been a realisation that it does not make much sense to promote Year 12 retention for its own sake. In this paper, Ryan investigates labour market outcomes for a range of different pathways undertaken by young people. He uses the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) to show that completion of senior secondary schooling provides the best labour market outcomes, relative to other vocational education paths.