For over a decade, the concept of decent work has gradually become pivotal to theoretical
thinking and research in vocational psychology, particularly through the Psychology of Working
Framework and Theory (PWT, Duffy et al., 2016). Early PWT-based literature has focused on
contextual and psychosocial predictors of adults' access to decent work, then on its outcomes on
careers and well-being. Adopting a developmental approach, further efforts have highlighted the
characteristics of a successful school-to-work transition (STWT), seen as a critical first step
towards decent work. This has led, for example, to a PWT-inspired model of the STWT
(Masdonati et al., 2022) which, since its publication, has received significant, albeit fragmented,
empirical support. In this paper, we provide a structured overview of this evidence, with the aim
of highlighting the factors and processes that most consistently shape the transition from
education to decent work. First, large-scale international surveys (e.g., OECD, 2024) offer strong
evidence for the predictive power of young adults' socioeconomic status, gender, and nationality
on the quality of their STWT. Second, more situated quantitative longitudinal research (e.g.,
Thouin et al., 2023) corroborates other associations, such as the importance of work experiences
during the school years in anticipating entry into the labor market. Third, both qualitative and
interventional studies (e.g., Kenny et al., 2022) point to the need to adopt an idiosyncratic and
culture-sensitive perspective in understanding and supporting transition processes. Overall, our
findings support the impact of contextual forces on the likelihood of successfully navigating
critical stages of a career path. They also confirm that psychosocial, identity, and educational
factors shape STWT experiences and subsequent access to decent work and meaningful careers.