4. THE PREVALENCE OF LOW LITERACY AND NUMERACY SKILLS IN THE WORKFORCE: INDUSTRY AND OCCUPATIONAL PATTERNS

There are marked differences in the literacy and numeracy skill profiles of the workers who are employed in different industries and occupations. These differences are due to variations in the educational and skill requirements of different jobs and to variations in the demographic and educational profiles of the workers who are employed in different industries and occupations.

Figure 5 illustrates the proportions of workers in each industry group who were at level 1 and the proportions who were at level 1 or level 2 in terms of their document literacy skills (sections A and C) and their numeracy skills (sections B and D). Figure 6 gives the same results for occupational groups. The data underlying these graphs and a number of additional results, including the percentages of workers whose literacy and numeracy skills were at level 3 or levels 4/5 and the total number of workers employed in each industry group or occupational group, are set out in Tables A3-A5 in Appendix 3.

In each part of Figure 5 and Figure 6, the proportion of workers whose skills were at level 1 and at level 1 or 2 is given by the column heights. Because the sample sizes for some industries and occupations are relatively small, we also show the 95 percent confidence intervals associated with each estimate. These confidence intervals are shown by the vertical bars straddling the top of each column. There is a 95 percent chance that the true proportion lies within the confidence interval 'bar'. Small confidence intervals indicate relatively accurate estimates, and large confidence intervals indicate less accurate estimates. As a general rule, literacy and numeracy skills are measured more accurately for larger industries and occupational groups than for smaller ones (i.e. those with lower employment and therefore fewer cases in the survey sample). The survey estimates of the proportion of workers who were at level 1 or 2 are also more accurate than the estimates of the proportion who were at level 1.

The overall patterns can be summarised as follows:

Industries - literacy

• Level 1: Food manufacturing, accommodation and food services, agriculture and 'other manufacturing' (a group that covers all manufacturing industries other than food manufacturing) had the highest proportions of workers with document literacy skills at level 1 (23 percent, 19 percent, 16 percent and 16 percent respectively). Other industries with more than 10 percent of their workers at level 1 were construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, motor vehicle sales and service, transport, and health care and social services.

Figure 5: Proportion of workers with low literacy or low numeracy skills, by industry group

 

Figure 6: Proportion of workers with low literacy or low numeracy skills, by occupational group

• If we consider prose literacy rather than document literacy, the results are similar although not identical. Food manufacturing, accommodation and food services, and construction had the highest proportions of workers with prose literacy at level 1 (21 percent, 19 percent and 17 percent respectively). The agriculture, other manufacturing, motor vehicle sales and service, retail trade and transport industries were also estimated to have more than 10 percent of workers at level 1.
• Level 1 or 2: The industries with the highest proportions of workers with document literacy at either level 1 or level 2 were food manufacturing (56 percent) and accommodation and food services (52 percent).
• The industries with the lowest proportions of workers assessed as having low literacy skills were finance and insurance, information technology and scientific services, business services, public administration and defence, and education and training.

Industries - numeracy

• Level 1: Food manufacturing, other manufacturing, accommodation and food services, and retail trade had the highest proportions of workers whose numeracy skills were assessed as being at level 1 - more than 20 percent.

• Level 1 or 2: More than 50 percent of workers were at level 1 or level 2 in terms of their numeracy in the following 10 industries: agriculture, food manufacturing, other manufacturing, motor vehicle sales and service, retail trade, accommodation and food services, transport, communications, health care and social services, and other business and personal services.

• The industries with the lowest proportions of workers with low numeracy were information technology and scientific services, public administration and defence, and business services.

Occupations - literacy

• Level 1: Elementary occupations, machinery operators and assemblers, and drivers had the highest shares of workers with document literacy skills at level 1 (32 percent, 27 percent and 25 percent respectively). The occupational groups with the next highest proportions include personal service workers, sales workers, agricultural workers, building trades workers and other trades workers.
• Level 1 or 2: More than half of all workers in the following occupational groups had document literacy scores at either level 1 or level 2: elementary occupations (69 percent), machinery operators and assemblers (66 percent), drivers (62 percent), personal service workers (54 percent) and agricultural workers (52 percent).
• If prose literacy is considered rather than document literacy, the patterns are similar. Workers in the elementary occupations, machinery operators and assemblers, and drivers occupational groups had the highest proportions of workers whose prose literacy was at level 1 (29 percent, 27 percent and 25 percent respectively).

Occupations - numeracy

• Level 1: The elementary occupations, machinery operators and assemblers, and drivers occupational groups had the highest proportions of workers with numeracy skills at level 1 (42 percent, 35 percent and 29 percent respectively). In two further occupational groups, personal service workers and sales workers, more than 20 percent of workers had level 1 numeracy skills.
• Level 1 or 2: More than 50 percent of the workforce had numeracy skills at levels 1 or 2 within seven occupational groups: elementary occupations, machinery operators and assemblers, personal service workers, drivers, agricultural workers, sales workers and other trades workers.

Summarising and simplifying a little, the industries in which low literacy and numeracy skills were most common were agriculture, manufacturing, transport, retail trade, and accommodation and food services, while the occupational groups in which low foundation skills were most common were the elementary occupations, machinery operators and assemblers, drivers, personal service workers, sales workers and agricultural workers. These are industries and occupations in which many workers have relatively little formal education. Several of these industries and occupations also employ a relatively high proportion of recent immigrants and/or ESOL speakers: the accommodation and food services industry, and the personal service workers, drivers, machinery operators and assemblers, and elementary occupational groups. Tables A6 and A7 in Appendix 3 provide supplementary information on the workforce characteristics of each industry and occupational group.

At the time of the survey, approximately 37 percent of all employment in the economy was located in the agriculture, manufacturing, transport, retail trade, and accommodation and food services industries - the industries we have identified as having the highest proportions of workers with low foundation skills. About half (52 percent) of all workers with level 1 literacy skills and 43 percent of those with level 2 literacy skills worked in these industry groups.

About one-third (34 percent) of the workforce was employed in the six broad occupational groups we have identified as having the highest proportions of workers with low foundation skills - the elementary occupations, machinery operators and assemblers, drivers, personal service workers, sales workers and agricultural workers). Two-thirds (65 percent) of workers with level 1 literacy skills and 44 percent of workers with level 2 literacy skills were employed in these six occupational groups. Further statistics on the industrial and occupational distribution of workers categorised by their level of foundation skills can be found in Section 3.

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