A wide range of evidence was gathered to determine the interrelationship between participation in secondary vocational education, basic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic), attainment, and gainful employment. Sources of data included research on basic skills needed in jobs, two national longitudinal data sets, previous studies, and test scores for a wide variety of predominantly white students over several years. Findings were that (1) basic skills are important for a wide range of occupations, but it is impossible to determine the exact level of basic skills that are functionally required for specific occupations; (2) the basic skills attainments of those participating in general and in vocational secondary programs appear to be similar; (3) graduation from secondary vocational education programs as opposed to general high school programs does appear, in at least some cases, to be associated with employment advantages; and (4) basic skills attainments as reflected in standardized test scores do not appear to be strongly related to employment success, once years of schooling are controlled for as a variable. The study concluded that secondary vocational education can yield employment advantages without giving clearcut advantages to its graduates in terms of basic skills attainment. (KC)