This paper provides an analysis of the treatment and definition of skills in the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) of 2012. The conclusion is that the lens through which the GMR of 2012 has looked at skills development has been from the perspective of the disadvantaged, the marginalised, and the poorest sections of both rural and urban societies. What it has been less ready to tackle are the policy options and critical choices facing many ministries of education, of labour and of planning which face a huge variety of school-based vocational education, of institution-based vocational education and training, and of work-based training. GMR 2012 argues that the some 170 million young people aged between 15 and 25 in low-income countries could provide a demographic dividend as the ratio of working-age people to dependents rises but only if they enter adulthood with education and skills. Some of the topics discussed in this paper include: the role of skills in secondary education; skills for reducing poverty and promoting growth; the skills covered in National Skills Development Policies (NSDPs); the urban informal sector; skills training for rural youth; and monitoring skills development from a statistical perspective.