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This publication re-examines the labour planning debate in developing countries and shows how to forecast the need for skills in these countries. The debate has diminished since the 1990s due to the widespread notion that all forecasting techniques that assessed the labour market requirements of the future were unreliable and that labour market analysis and labour market signalling were the way forward. In general, the author challenges this idea but acknowledges that the models of the past need to be supplemented with better data and improved labour market analysis. The first chapter argues that the use of labour planning still has a role to play and the second chapter presents, from an historical perspective, an overview of some of the main labour market theories of relevance to the labour planning debate. Chapter three discusses the difficulties associated with reaching agreement on definitions of exactly what is being measured in the labour market field, outlines accepted international definitions, and highlights recent work by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on defining the informal sector. Chapter four presents a labour planning or labour market model called MACBETH that has been applied by the author in several countries. A case study of the model's application in Sri Lanka is described in chapter five. Chapter six presents an alternative to simulation models of labour forecasting that uses the notion of labour market signalling. The application of this alternative model is demonstrated through a case study of three surveys undertaken in Vietnam to assess labour training needs for designing future programs in 15 key training schools. The final chapter contains concluding comments in relation to labour planning, labour market theories, data issues, the MACBETH model, and labour market signalling.