The study of Youth Transition into the Labour Market (YTLM) began several years ago in the spring of 1987. The project consists of two parallel yet interrelated studies, one focusing on the full cohort of approximately 9000 Level III high school students in Newfoundland and Labrador at the end of the 1988-89 school year, and a second, which focuses on the full year cohort of 2109 students (grades seven to Level III) who dropped out of school between Easter 1987 and Easter 1988. Data for this report were obtained from interviews with 1274 of the 2109 early leavers. The early school leaver emerged as an enormously complex and idiosyncratic person. The early school leaver was frequently male, had experienced failure in school, was disenchanted with school, and had no sense of direction or vision of the future that extended beyond the limits of his immediate home and community. However, the early leaver was also often female, though few said that they left school because they were pregnant. High absenteeism was often reported. Most worked at temporary jobs when they worked. As a group the school leavers seemed to recognize value in education. Indeed, many expressed aspirations that implied a need to make an important commitment to extensive education and training. They had, nonetheless, rejected public education, first step in achieving their aspirations. (ABL)