3. CHARACTERISTICS OF WORKERS WITH LOW LITERACY AND NUMERACY SKILLS

3.1 Introduction

This section describes the personal and job characteristics of workers who have low literacy or numeracy skills, using simple descriptive statistics. Section 3.2 presents descriptive statistics on personal and job characteristics, and Section 3.3 summarises some of the information collected in ALL on the use of reading, writing and number skills at work.

3.2 Personal and job characteristics

Based on the ALL results, as at 2006, approximately 12 percent of employed people had document literacy skills at level 1, and 40 percent were at level 1 or level 2. Similar proportions of workers were at level 1 or at level 1 or 2 on the prose literacy skill domain. Sixteen percent of workers had numeracy skills at level 1, and 46 percent had numeracy skills at level 1 or 2.

Sutton (2009) examined the demographic and educational characteristics of adults with level 1 document literacy skills, level 1 numeracy skills or both, using ALL data. She found that:

• immigrants (i.e. people born outside New Zealand) made up 38 percent of those with both literacy and numeracy skills at level 1
• recent immigrants (those who had arrived since 2000) made up 14 percent of those with both literacy and numeracy skills at level 1
• 38 percent of adults with both low literacy and numeracy skills spoke a language other than English as their first language
• members of the Maori, Pacific peoples and Asian ethnic groups were over-represented among adults with low literacy and numeracy skills
• the educational qualifications of this population were relatively low: 32 percent had completed less than three years of secondary education
• approximately 60 percent were employed at the time of their interview, about 10 percent were unemployed and about 7 percent were students.

The patterns identified by Sutton are also evident when workers with relatively low literacy skills are profiled, as shown in Table 3 and Figures 1 and 2. The numbers in Table 3 show the proportion of workers at each level of literacy skill who had a particular demographic or job characteristic. For example, 40.5 percent of workers with level 1 literacy skills were women and, by inference, 59.5 percent were men.^[3] The average age of workers whose literacy skills were at level 1 was 41.1 years, and 14.6 percent were aged 16-24 years.

Table 2 summarises the demographic and job characteristics of workers who differ in their level of numeracy skill, in a similar manner to Table 1. Figures 1 and 2 plot some of the results in Table 1. As well as showing the proportion of workers at each literacy skill level with a particular demographic characteristic, they show the 95 percent confidence intervals that are associated with these survey estimates. There is a 95 percent chance that the true proportion lies between the upper and lower confidence interval boundaries.^[4]

The results indicate the following:

• Women in employment were slightly less likely than employed men to have document literacy skills at level 1 but slightly more likely to have document literacy skills or numeracy skills at level 2.
• The average age of workers with low literacy or numeracy skills was little different from the average age of workers with higher skills. However, youth (15-24 year olds) were more likely than workers in other age groups to have foundation skills at levels 1 and 2. Older adults (those aged 54-65 years) were also over-represented among workers at level 1.
• Workers of Maori, Pacific or Asian ethnic affiliation, recent immigrants (i.e. people born overseas who had migrated to New Zealand since 2000) and workers whose first language was not English were significantly more likely than Europeans and the New Zealand-born to have low levels of literacy and numeracy skills. For example, 22 percent of workers who had level 1 literacy skills had a Maori ethnic affiliation (alone or in combination with other ethnic groups), while only 4 percent of workers with level 4 or 5 literacy skills identified as Maori. Nineteen percent of workers with level 1 literacy skills but only 3 percent of those at level 4 or 5 identified as belonging to one of the Asian ethnic groups.
• The over-representation of ESOL speakers among the low skilled is particularly marked. Thirty-three percent of workers with document literacy skills at level 1 and 32 percent of those with numeracy skills at level 1 were people whose first language was not English, compared with 14 percent of all the employed.
• A high proportion of workers with low literacy or numeracy have relatively low levels of education. Forty-six percent of workers with document literacy skills at level 1 and 32 percent of those at level 2 had completed three years of secondary education or less, compared with 22 percent of all the employed. More than three-quarters had either no qualifications or qualifications classified at level 3 or below in the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.

Table 3: Demographic and job characteristics of workers with different literacy skill levels

	Document literacy skill level
	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4/5	All levels
Sample size	669	1472	1985	949	5076
Estimated population size (000s)	227	529	758	390	1903
Share of all employed persons in each skill group	11.9	27.8	39.8	20.5	100.0
Gender and age group
Female (%)	40.5	50.3	49.6	41.5	47.1
Mean age (years)	41.1	40.4	40.9	40.8	40.7
Aged 16-24 (%)	14.6	16.2	11.8	6.8	12.3
Aged 25-54 (%)	63.9	66.5	72.7	80.4	71.5
Aged 55-65 (%)	21.6	17.2	15.5	12.8	16.1
Ethnic group
European ethnic affiliation (%)	46.2	67.8	75.9	82.6	71.5
Maori ethnic affiliation (%)	22.1	14.5	8.3	4.2	10.8
Pacific ethnic affiliation (%)	13.7	5.8	2.5	1.2	4.5
Asian ethnic affiliation (%)	18.9	10.8	8.3	3.1	9.2
Birthplace and language
Born in New Zealand (%)	63.7	76.1	77.1	78.9	75.6
Recent immigrant (%)	12.3	9.0	7.4	5.6	8.1
Speaks English as second language (%)	32.6	16.9	10.8	4.4	13.8
Education
Completed 5th form /year 11 or less (%)	45.6	31.7	16.6	5.4	21.9
Level 3 qualification or below (%)	77.7	64.4	44.8	28.2	50.8
Job characteristics
Self-employed (%)	11.4	15.6	20.4	23.6	18.6
Average weekly hours	39.0	38.7	38.5	40.1	39.0
Employed part-time (%)	23.7	21.4	22.0	18.4	21.3
Employed part-year (%)	12.2	8.9	8.0	6.3	8.4
Average job tenure (years)	5.5	5.8	6.5	6.6	6.2
Average hourly earnings ($, employees only)	14.6	17.9	21.9	26.2	20.6
Occupational group
Managers (%)	3.8	8.3	11.8	17.0	10.9
Professionals (%)	4.0	9.4	20.3	32.8	17.9
Technicians and associate professionals (%)	8.6	12.8	15.5	17.5	14.3
Clerks (%)	9.1	15.0	15.7	11.2	13.8
Service and sales workers (%)	22.4	18.2	13.5	7.9	14.7
Agriculture and fishery workers (%)	11.4	7.7	6.3	3.8	6.8
Trades workers (%)	9.8	10.8	7.8	6.2	8.5
Plant and machine operators and assemblers (%)	18.6	11.5	6.1	2.5	8.4
Elementary occupations (%)	12.3	6.3	3.0	1.2	4.7
Industry group
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	12.7	8.8	7.0	4.5	7.7
Manufacturing	20.2	15.1	11.0	11.4	13.3
Wholesale and retail trade	15.1	16.6	13.0	10.6	13.8
Food services and accommodation	9.0	6.5	5.0	3.3	5.6
Transport and communications	6.1	6.6	6.3	5.3	6.1
Finance and business services	6.3	9.3	15.3	21.2	13.8
Public administration and defence	1.3	2.5	5.6	8.2	4.8
Education and training	3.9	7.0	12.3	14.9	10.4
Health and community services	10.9	10.6	9.9	9.9	10.2
All other industries	14.6	17.0	14.6	10.7	14.5
Enterprise size (number of employees)
Less than 5 (%)	19.8	19.2	21.2	19.8	20.2
5 to 9 (%)	9.2	9.8	9.9	8.3	9.5
10 to 19 (%)	11.6	10.4	8.8	9.1	9.6
20 to 99 (%)	16.7	16.3	17.1	16.7	16.7
100 to 499 (%)	13.5	13.7	12.8	14.9	13.6
500 to 999 (%)	6.2	6.4	5.7	6.7	6.2
1000 and over (%)	23.1	24.2	24.6	24.5	24.3

Note: Respondents could give more than one ethnic affiliation, and if they did so, they are counted in each applicable ethnic group. Recent immigrants are people who were born outside New Zealand and moved to New Zealand in 2001 or more recently.

Table 4: Demographic and job characteristics of workers with different numeracy skill levels

	Numeracy skill level
	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4/5	All levels
Sample size	915	1590	1688	883	5076
Estimated population size (000s)	304	579	657	363	1903
Share of all employed persons in each skill group	16.0	30.4	34.5	19.1	100.0
Gender and age group
Female (%)	47.9	52.7	47.9	35.9	47.1
Mean age (years)	40.2	40.3	41.4	40.6	40.7
Aged 16-24 (%)	16.6	16.5	9.7	6.8	12.3
Aged 25-54 (%)	65.4	66.1	73.8	81.0	71.5
Aged 55-65 (%)	18.0	17.3	16.4	12.2	16.1
Ethnic group
European ethnic affiliation (%)	46.7	70.1	77.9	82.7	71.5
Maori ethnic affiliation (%)	22.6	13.5	7.1	3.3	10.8
Pacific ethnic affiliation (%)	14.3	4.7	1.7	0.9	4.5
Asian ethnic affiliation (%)	17.6	10.0	7.1	4.8	9.2
Birthplace and language
Born in New Zealand (%)	65.8	77.1	77.9	77.1	75.6
Recent immigrant (%)	11.7	8.7	6.5	6.8	8.1
Speaks English as second language (%)	32.0	13.7	9.5	6.4	13.8
Education
Completed 5th form /year 11 or less (%)	43.0	29.6	14.7	5.2	21.9
Level 3 qualification or below (%)	76.5	61.5	44.1	24.2	50.8
Job characteristics
Self-employed (%)	11.0	16.3	22.0	22.5	18.6
Average weekly hours	38.3	37.8	39.2	41.0	39.0
Employed part-time (%)	24.9	23.9	20.6	15.5	21.3
Employed part-year (%)	11.2	9.2	7.9	5.6	8.4
Average job tenure (years)	5.3	6.0	6.6	6.7	6.2
Average hourly earnings ($, employees only)	14.9	18.2	22.5	26.8	20.6
Occupational group
Managers (%)	4.9	8.6	13.0	15.7	10.9
Professionals (%)	4.6	10.9	20.2	35.7	17.9
Technicians and associate professionals (%)	8.7	13.3	16.2	17.3	14.3
Clerks (%)	11.3	16.0	15.1	10.2	13.8
Service and sales workers (%)	23.4	18.4	11.7	7.2	14.7
Agriculture and fishery workers (%)	8.3	8.4	6.3	3.9	6.8
Trades workers (%)	9.3	9.0	9.1	6.2	8.5
Plant and machine operators and assemblers (%)	17.3	9.7	6.2	2.8	8.4
Elementary occupations (%)	12.3	5.7	2.3	1.0	4.7
Industry group
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	9.3	9.5	7.1	4.5	7.7
Manufacturing	19.0	14.0	11.4	11.1	13.3
Wholesale and retail trade	16.0	15.2	13.0	10.9	13.8
Food services and accommodation	8.8	6.6	4.6	2.9	5.6
Transport and communications	6.1	7.0	6.0	5.1	6.1
Finance and business services	6.0	9.5	14.9	24.9	13.8
Public administration and defence	1.2	3.3	5.7	8.6	4.8
Education and training	5.4	8.4	12.3	14.1	10.4
Health and community services	12.6	11.1	9.5	8.1	10.2
All other industries	15.6	15.6	15.5	9.9	14.5
Enterprise size (number of employees)
Less than 5 (%)	18.3	19.8	21.8	19.4	20.2
5 to 9 (%)	9.3	10.3	9.2	8.8	9.5
10 to 19 (%)	10.0	9.7	9.6	9.2	9.6
20 to 99 (%)	14.8	15.5	18.1	17.8	16.7
100 to 499 (%)	15.8	13.9	12.6	13.0	13.6
500 to 999 (%)	6.0	5.9	5.8	7.3	6.2
1000 and over (%)	25.7	25.0	22.9	24.6	24.3

Note: Respondents could give more than one ethnic affiliation, and if they did so, they are counted in each applicable ethnic group. Recent immigrants are people who were born outside New Zealand and moved to New Zealand in 2001 or more recently.

Figure 1: Population groups that are over-represented among workers with low literacy skills

 

Figure 2: Job characteristics of workers with different literacy skill levels

Turning to job characteristics, the ALL results indicate the following:

• Workers with low literacy or numeracy are less likely to be self-employed and more likely to be working as wage or salary earners than workers whose skill levels were higher.
• Workers with poorer skills of this type are more likely to be working in part-time jobs or part-year jobs than workers with higher skill levels. On average, they have spent slightly less time working in their current main job.
• Approximately two-thirds of workers with level 1 literacy or numeracy skills were employed in the four least skilled major occupational groups: service and sales, agriculture, plant and machine operators and assemblers, and elementary occupations.
• Around two-thirds workers with level 1 literacy or numeracy skills and more than half of those with level 2 literacy or numeracy skills, were employed in five broad industry groups: agriculture forestry and fishing, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food services, and health and community services.
• There is no obvious relationship between literacy or numeracy skill and firm size: workers with low skills were employed in a similar mix of small, medium-sized and large enterprises as workers with higher skills.
• Employees with low literacy or numeracy skills tend to work in relatively low paid jobs. The average hourly earnings of employees with level 1 document literacy skills were $14.60 per hour. The average for all employees in the survey was $20.60.

3.3 Use of reading, writing and numeracy skills at work

ALL collected information from employed people on the frequency with which they undertook particular reading, writing and numerical tasks at work. The questions covered about 15 tasks, such as 'reading letters, memos or emails' and 'writing bills, invoices, spreadsheets or budget tables'. Note that the questions recorded how often these tasks were undertaken but did not assess their level of difficulty, and therefore the information gathered provides only a rough guide to differences in job requirements.

Figures 3 and 4 plot the proportions of workers at each level of document literacy skill who said they 'never' or 'rarely':

• read letters, memos or emails
• read directions or instructions
• read manuals or reference books
• read bills, invoices, spreadsheets or budgets
• measured or estimated the size or weight of objects
• calculated prices, costs or budgets
• counted or read numbers to keep track of things.

The results show, perhaps not surprisingly, that workers with lower literacy skills were less likely to perform tasks involving reading or maths on a regular basis in their jobs than workers with higher skills. A substantial group of workers with level 1 literacy skills (30-70 percent, varying across the different tasks) said that they rarely or never did these tasks in their jobs. Rates of performing the other tasks recorded in ALL, including writing tasks, were similar.

Figure 3: Proportion of workers who rarely or never performed specified reading tasks at work, by literacy skill level

Data table for Figure 3

Figure 4: Proportion of workers who rarely or never performed specified numeracy tasks at work, by numeracy skill level

Data table for Figure 4

One possible explanation is that many of these workers held jobs that genuinely had little requirement for reading or interpreting numbers. It could also be the case that the tasks individuals undertake at work are influenced and perhaps restricted by their literacy skills, however. Benseman and Sutton (2007, p.4) report that employers use a range of strategies to minimise the impact of poor literacy skills in their firms, including developing oral culture in the workforce, rewriting documentation, changing work practices and passing literacy requirements onto a person in the team with the best skills.

One implication of these results is that a significant minority of people in the workforce are not regularly undertaking tasks that would help them develop or maintain their reading, writing and maths skills, at least not in the context of their jobs. These tend to be the individuals whose literacy or numeracy skills are poorest.

An alternative way of viewing the results, however, focuses on the proportion of workers who said that they did perform the specified tasks at least once a week. Even if we consider the workers whose literacy skills were assessed as weakest (those at level 1), more than half undertake reading and number-related tasks in the course of their jobs on a regular basis (at least once a week or more often). Therefore, the majority are in jobs with some requirement for the use of literacy and numeracy skills, and their proficiency at reading, writing or mathematical tasks is relevant for their performance at work.

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