SUMMARY

Scope and purpose of the paper

This paper examines the characteristics and education and training patterns of adults in employment who have low literacy or numeracy skills. It provides information on:

• their personal and job characteristics and their use of literacy and numeracy skills at work
• where they are located in the labour market, that is, which industries and occupations employ relatively high proportions of workers with low literacy or numeracy skills
• their further education and training rates and patterns.

The study uses data collected in the Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) Survey, which measured the English-language literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills of a representative sample of New Zealand residents during the 2005-2007 period.

The information in this paper can be used to better understand the characteristics and current learning rates and patterns of workers whose foundation skills are weak, and to help identify the industries and occupations that have greatest literacy and numeracy training needs.

Definition of 'low' literacy and numeracy skills

In this paper, 'low literacy skills' is defined as having document literacy skills that were assessed at level 1 or level 2 on the five-level ALL scale. 'Low numeracy skills' is defined as having numeracy skills at level 1 or level 2 on the five-level ALL scale. The skills of people at level 1 are more limited than those of people at level 2.

How common are low literacy or numeracy skills?

Based on the ALL results, 12 percent of employed people have literacy skills at level 1, and 40 percent are at level 1 or level 2. Similar proportions of workers are at level 1 and similar proportions at level 1 or level 2 if literacy is assessed using the ALL measures of prose literacy. In this paper, the 'document literacy' measures of literacy are analysed and reported rather than the 'prose literacy' measures, unless stated otherwise.

Sixteen percent of all employed people have numeracy skills at level 1, and 46 percent have numeracy skills at level 1 or 2.

The significance of low literacy or numeracy skills

The fact that a worker has literacy or numeracy skills at level 1 or 2 on the five-level ALL scale does not necessarily mean that they are unable to perform their job in a satisfactory manner at present. However, people whose foundation skills are low are more likely than other workers to have difficulties with tasks that require reading, writing or maths, with learning new knowledge and skills or with adapting to changes at work. Employer surveys and firm case studies undertaken in New Zealand have found evidence that low literacy and numeracy skills in workplaces can lead to mistakes, wastage and reductions in the quality of outputs, to difficulties with documentation and to an increased risk of accidents.

The characteristics of workers with low literacy or numeracy skills

The population of workers who have low literacy or low numeracy skills includes a disproportionate number of adults who have limited formal educational qualifications. It also includes a sizeable group of people who speak English as a second language. ALL assessed English-language literacy only and does not provide information on literacy skills in other languages.

Forty-six percent of workers with literacy skills at level 1 had completed only three years of secondary education or less, compared with 22 percent of all workers. Thirty-three percent of workers with literacy skills at level 1 and 17 percent of those with literacy skills at level 2 did not have English as their first language, compared with 14 percent of all the employed. For numeracy skills, the proportions are similar.

Youth, older adults, Maori, Pacific peoples, Asians and recent immigrants are over-represented among workers who have low foundation skills.

Workers with low literacy or numeracy skills are more likely to be working in part-time jobs or in part-year jobs than workers with higher skill levels. Approximately two-thirds of workers with level 1 literacy or level 1 numeracy skills were employed in the four least skilled occupational groups: service and sales, agriculture, plant and machine operators and assemblers, and elementary occupations.

Workers with lower foundation skills were much less likely to perform tasks involving literacy or numeracy on a regular basis in their jobs, than workers with higher skills.

Industries and occupations with high proportions of workers who have low literacy or numeracy skills

The industry groups with the highest proportions of workers with literacy skills at level 1 (more than 15 percent) were manufacturing, construction, accommodation and food services, and transport. The retail trade and transport industries also had relatively high proportions of workers at level 1.

More than 20 percent of workers had level 1 numeracy skills in the following industries: manufacturing, retail trade, and accommodation and food services.

The occupational groups with the highest proportions of workers with literacy skills at level 1 (more than 15 percent) were personal service workers, sales workers, agricultural workers, machinery operators and assemblers, drivers and elementary occupations. These occupational groups also had the highest proportions of workers whose numeracy skills were at level 1.

Further education and training of workers with low literacy or numeracy skills

Education or training courses that are undertaken during adulthood provide opportunities for individuals to maintain or improve their literacy and numeracy skills. As part of the Government's strategy to raise the literacy and numeracy skills of the workforce, opportunities for literacy and numeracy learning will increasingly be embedded within mainstream vocational courses and industry training.

Fifty-two percent of all employed people in ALL reported that they had participated in a structured learning activity during the last year. Twenty-three percent had taken courses as part of a programme of study towards a qualification, and 36 percent had undertaken a course or courses that were not linked to a qualification.

The likelihood of having studied towards a qualification, for workers aged 25 or over, did not vary greatly by their level of literacy or numeracy skill. Low skilled workers were about as likely to have undertaken some study or training towards a qualification as those with higher levels of literacy or numeracy skill. The learning undertaken by low skilled workers is likely to have comprised a mixture of institution-based tertiary education courses and workplace-based industry training programmes.

Workers with low literacy or numeracy skills were substantially less likely to have participated in courses that were not linked to a qualification than workers with higher literacy and numeracy skills. These other courses are predominantly short training courses funded by employers.

Profile of workers who were most likely to participate in further education and training

Within the population of working adults aged 25 and over who had low literacy skills, the likelihood of having studied towards a qualification, after controlling for the effects of other characteristics, was higher among men than women, higher for Maori than other ethnic groups, higher for individuals who already held post-school qualifications than those with no qualifications or school qualifications only and higher for workers employed by large enterprises than those working for small or medium-sized firms.

Among workers aged 25 or over with low literacy skills, the likelihood of having taken a course, after controlling for the effects of other characteristics, was lower for workers of a Pacific ethnic affiliation than for other ethnic groups and higher for workers employed at larger enterprises.

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