This chapter draws on the OECD’s international Survey of Adult Skills to shed light on how different skills contribute to two key labour market outcomes for young people (16 to 29): the risk of not being in employment nor in education or training and, if in work, the level of hourly wages. The skills areas covered include: educational attainment; information-processing skills (literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments); generic skills (the ability to organise one’s own work or influence that of others, to work in a team and to solve complex problems); and skills specific to fields of study and training. The chapter also assesses the extent to which employers make the best use of young people’s skills in the labour market and identifies those skills areas most prone to mismatches between what workers can do and what their job demands. Finally, the chapter identifies the main policy levers that are most likely to influence the way in which employers recognise and reward their employees’ skills. This provides new insights to policy makers, strengthening previous findings based chiefly on returns to education.