This chapter applies a Realist-Constructivist approach to cross-national survey data on competency development among working youth, focusing on the garment sector. Using six datasets from Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, and Pakistan (2016–2023), the analysis examines perception gaps between employers, employees, TVET trainers, and students regarding the desirable skills for work, compared to the workers’ actual skills as assessed by written and practical tests. The assessment module developed uniquely by the author’s group allows for meaningful comparisons across firms, countries, and TVET institutions. Results show that firm-level contexts often matter more than country-level differences as wage determinants, although in some aspects, countries reveal distinctive socio-cultural and econo-productive mechanisms that condition the competency development by workers. Perceptions of skill needs vary among stakeholders, reflecting micro-ecologies shaped by the firms’ ownership (e.g., foreign-invested vs. local) structures and local environments. Overall, practical and noncognitive abilities are important determinants of wages across ecologies. At the same time, noncognitive abilities demonstrated high context-specificities. On the side of the TVET, a challenge to the policymakers is identified. Despite governments promoting TVET as a means of mitigating skills gaps, TVET students who participated in our surveys are not necessarily keen on employment in the industry for which they are trained, and different career orientations coexist among them.