How do skills combine?

[Royce]

@Royce: Every planet has a base RO production value... it's only shown at 0 until you learn the appropriate skill. Behind the scenes, the planet may have a starting RO of +2, so when you tack on that 3% increase it bumps it up to +3.

First of all, that makes absolutely no sense. A base value, that is always meaningless because nobody can actually use it until they increase it? Second, 1 is 3% of 2?