Based on a rare example of longitudinal, qualitative research with "hard-to-reach" young adults, this study throws into question common approaches to understanding and tackling social exclusion. A key conclusion is that in disadvantaged labor markets current "welfare to work" policies often entrap individuals in low-paid, precarious "poor work", thus entrenching their social exclusion. The report provides a detailed insight into the processes that shape "poor transitions" and, in particular, highlights: young adults' encounters with education, training and employment and their attempts to establish more rewarding working lives; the choices and constraints facing young mothers as they try to balance childcare and paid employment; the complicated factors that lead some adults to desist from crime and drug use and some to persist; and the impact of growing up in poor neighborhoods on the longer term transitions of young people. The authors argue that understanding social exclusion and devising effective policies to reduce it requires immersion in the experiences of the socially excluded. The report is aimed at academics, policy makers, practitioners and general readers interested in an in-depth account of the biographical experiences of the socially excluded.