This paper uses micro data from the ILO-STWT surveys to provide novel evidence on the duration, end point and determinants of the transition from school to work in a sample of 23 low and middle-income countries around the world. The negative effects of low levels of human capital and high levels of population growth on job finding rates, seems to be at least in part offset by widespread poverty and lack of unemployment insurance, leading to overall faster transitions in low income economies compared to middle income economies. By lowering reservation wages and speeding transitions these latter forces lead overall to worse matches, as measured by the probability of attaining stable employment in the long-run.