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This paper focuses on the definition of skills through an examination of how French literature on work and on education defines, either explicitly or implicitly, a concept of skill and addresses the question of skills. The aim is to provide a more reliable basis for labour and educational policy formation. The question of skills has become topical due to the result of policies based on mutually reinforcing theoretical positions that assume that individuals in pursuit of higher incomes will invest in their own education, provide more skilled labour for companies thus improving the performance of companies and boosting overall economic growth. An understanding of the nature of skills and their acquisition is crucial to the formation of vocational and training policies to improve skills. The analysis of the French literature provides some insight into the close relationship between skills and work and their recent transformations, and although specific to the French situation, may have relevance for other contexts.