In a world in which millions of people are unemployed while many employers complain that they cannot find qualified workers something is obviously out of balance. One of those issues is the match between the supply of and demand for skills. Governments need a clearer picture, not only of how labour markets are changing, but of how wellequipped their citizens are to participate in, and benefit from, increasingly knowledge-based economies. The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), is providing that picture. It captures information about adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills, and whether and how those skills are used on the job and throughout life.

The capacity to manage information and solve problems using computers is becoming a necessity as ICT applications permeate the workplace, the classroom and lecture hall, the home, and social interaction more generally. The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), was designed to measure adults’ proficiency in several key information-processing skills, namely literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. Adults who are highly proficient in the skills measured by the survey are likely to be able to make the most of the opportunities created by the technological and structural changes modern societies are going through. Those who struggle to use new technologies are at greater risk of losing out.

The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), assesses adults’ (16-65 year-olds) proficiency in three key information-processing skills: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. It provides a rich source of data for policy makers, analysts and researchers concerned with issues such as the development and maintenance of a population’s skills, the relationships between the education system and the labour market, the efficiency of the labour market in matching workers and jobs, inequality, and the social and labour market integration of certain subgroups of the population, such as immigrants. Beyond offering an insight into the level and distribution of information-processing skills across the population as a whole and for key subgroups, it provides information on the benefits these skills provide in the labour market and in everyday life. Information about what the survey assesses and how it was carried out can be found in Box 1.1.

This chapter describes the level and distribution of proficiency in the three information-processing skills assessed – literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments – among adults in the participating countries and economies. To help readers interpret the findings, the results are linked to descriptions of what particular scores mean in concrete terms. In addition to presenting the distribution of scores across countries/economies, the chapter also shows the variation in scores among adults in individual countries/economies, and the relationship between the average proficiency level and the degree of variation in scores within a given country. The chapter describes the relationship among the three proficiencies and compares results from this survey with the two previous surveys of adult skills: the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL).

This chapter examines differences in skills proficiency between different groups of individuals, defined by age, gender, socio-economic status, educational attainment, and immigrant and language background. The main focus of the analysis is on literacy proficiency; results for numeracy are generally similar, and are discussed in detail when this is not the case. Results for problem solving in technology-rich environments are discussed separately.

This chapter examines the use of information-processing skills at work and in everyday life, and the relationship between the use of skills and wages, job satisfaction and economy-wide productivity. It also explores the factors associated with greater or lesser use of these skills in the workplace, including proficiency, the characteristics of workers and the features of their jobs.

This chapter looks at the extent to which proficiency in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments makes a difference to the well-being of individuals and nations. The answer that emerges is clear: proficiency is positively linked to a number of important economic and social outcomes.