The document summarizes findings from a survey that assessed adults' proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills across 24 countries, finding that skills proficiency varies significantly between countries and is linked to important economic and social outcomes; while education increases proficiency, it declines over time and proficiency is also related to factors like age, immigration status, and participation in adult education. The results suggest countries should focus more on lifelong learning opportunities to maintain skills.

1. MARCO PACCAGNELLA
Analyst, Directorate for Education and Skills
Skilled for Life?
KEY FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY OF ADULT SKILLS
1
London, 14th January 2015

2. Survey of Adult Skills in brief
in literacy, numeracy and
problem solving in technology-
rich environments.
166 thousand adults…
Representing 724 million 16-65 year-olds
in 24* countries/economies
Took an internationally
agreed assessment…
The assessment was administered either in
computer-based or paper-based versions.

3. Literacy Understand, evaluate, use and engage with
written texts.
Numeracy
Access, use, interpret and communicate
mathematical information and ideas
Problem Solving
In Technology-rich
Environments
Use digital technology communication tools
and networks to acquire and evaluate
information, communicate with others and
perform practical tasks.
“Key information-processing skills”
Skills assessed

4. Overview of main findings
• (Measured) skills matter!
• Big impact on a number of economic and social outcomes
• Not only at the individual, but also at the macro-level
• Level and distribution of skills differs markedly across
countries
• Adults at lowest levels of proficiency make up between 5
and 30 per cent of the sample
• Proficiency is only partially related to formal education
• Success is increasingly about building skills beyond school
• Immigrants and older adults have particularly low
proficiency
• Higher risk of marginalization

5. Skills matter
051015202530
Years of education Proficiency (literacy)

6. Skills matter
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3.0
High wages High levels of
political efficacy
Participation in
volunteer
activities
High levels of trust Being employed Good to excellent
health
Odds ratio

7. Skills matter
• Impact on individual’s life chances
• In terms of wages and employment probability
• Demand for skills shifting towards more sophisticated tasks
(analysis and communication of information)
• Crucial for countries’ competitiveness
• Per capita incomes higher in countries with large proportion
of high achievers/small proportion of low achievers
• It’s not just the economy
• Poor health (self-reported)
• Low political efficacy
• Low participation in volunteering activities
• Low levels of trust

8. Summary of proficiency
in key information-processing skills
Countries Literacy Numeracy PSTRE
OECD Average 273 269 34
Australia 280 268 38
Austria 269 275 32
Canada 273 265 37
Czech Republic 274 276 33
Denmark 271 278 39
Estonia 276 273 28
Finland 288 282 42
France 262 254 m
Germany 270 272 36
Ireland 267 256 25
Italy 250 247 m
Japan 296 288 35
Korea 273 263 30
Netherlands 284 280 42
Norway 278 278 41
Poland 267 260 19
Slovak Republic 274 276 26
Spain 252 246 m
Sweden 279 279 44
United States 270 253 31
Flanders (Belgium) 275 280 35
England/N. Ireland (UK) 272 262 35
Cyprus1 269 265 m

9. What adults can do
Literacy
100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100
Italy
Spain
Cyprus1
France
Ireland
Poland
Austria
United States
Germany
England/N. Ireland (UK)
Korea
Denmark
Average
Czech Republic
Canada
Flanders (Belgium)
Slovak Republic
Estonia
Norway
Australia
Sweden
Netherlands
Finland
Japan
Percent
Below Level 1 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4/5

10. What adults can do
• Literacy level 2:
• “…can integrate two or more pieces of information
based on criteria, compare and contrast or reason
about information, make low-level inferences. Can
navigate within digital texts to access and identify
information from various parts of a document”
• Example: simulated webpage of an event, with several
links, including “Contact us” and “FAQs”. Must identify
the link providing phone number of event organizer
• On average, 15% of adults are below level 2
• 27% in Italy and Spain, 21% in France, 9% in Finland, 4%
in Japan

11. What adults can do
• Numeracy level 2:
• “…tasks that require identifying and acting upon
mathematical information embedded in a range of
common contexts where mathematical content is
explicit”
• Example: a salesman gets paid €0.35 per km, plus €40
per day. Knowing distance travelled in a one-day trip,
calculate how much he will be paid for the trip
(calculator allowed!)
• On average, 19% of adults are below level 2
• 30% in Italy and Spain, 28% in the U.S., 12% in
Netherlands and Finland, 8% in Japan

12. Proficiency and Education
The advantage of tertiary educated individuals
020406080

13. Proficiency and Education
…but education is not the end of the story
100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400
Lower than upper
secondary
Upper secondary
Tertiary
Score
Italy
100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400
Lower than upper
secondary
Upper secondary
Tertiary
Score
Japan
Japanese high school
graduates have literacy
skills comparable to
those of Italian tertiary
graduates

14. Proficiency and education
• Link between proficiency and education declines over time
• Still, results raise questions about quality of formal education
• Learning takes place everywhere, most notably on the
workplace
• Large differences in participation rates in adult education: 60%
in Nordic countries, below 30% in Italy
• Strong positive relationship between proficiency and
participation in adult education

15. Other Individual Attributes
Proficiency and Age
225
250
275
300
325
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Literacy Numeracy
Age

16. Other Individual Attributes
The disadvantage of foreign-born adults
-1001020304050607080

17. Conclusions
• Investing in skills is costly, but vital in the medium to
long run
• Cutting public investment in skills is a short-sighted strategy
• Rather, work on making it more effective!
• Increased emphasis should be put on life-long learning,
as opposed to (formal) initial education
• Effective skills policies require the involvement of
many different actors – sharing costs and benefits
• Employers, Individuals, Governments…
• Which role for Governments?
• Set standards, provide incentives, create safety nets

18. Data products
Data Explorer
Public Use File (some countries have suppressed or coarsened data)
Background Questionnaire
Codebook
SAS and STATA tools
IEA Data Analyser
Technical Report
Education and Skills On-line Assessment

19. Find Out More About PIAAC at:
www.oecd.org/site/piaac
All national and international
publications
The complete micro-level database
Email
marco.paccagnella@OECD.org