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Although a number of initiatives have been introduced by the Australian governments to meet the needs of young people in their transition from school to work, youth unemployment is high and each year, one in every three teenagers leaves school without completing a Year 12 equivalent education and one in five young Australians never complete this level of education. In this report, the costs and benefits of meeting Australia's commitments to young people are examined, focusing on the commitment to provide a Year 12 equivalent education to all young people. The report is structured as follows: the first chapter outlines the scope of youth commitment and the layout of the report; the second chapter describes the numbers of early school leavers, the main factors linked to early school leaving and the key education and employment outcomes; chapter three discusses the main policy options to realise Australia's commitment to the youth; chapter four provides the evaluation framework; chapter five outlines a simple model for cost-benefit analysis of Year 12 education for one student cohort; chapters six to eight develop a more detailed cost-benefit and evaluation model for meeting the commitment over a five year period; chapter nine examines the main labour market options; chapter 10 outlines education and labour market programs to meet the national commitment; and the final chapter makes recommendations for the implementation of these commitments.