OECD Skills Outlook 2013
First Results from the Survey
of Adult
Skills
Foreword
OECD Skills Outlook
2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills © OECD 2013 3
It is no exaggeration
to use the word “revolution” when talking about how our lives have changed over
the past few decades. Today we rely on information and communication
technologies and devices that hadn’t even been imagined in 1980. The way we
live and work has changed profoundly – and so has the set of skills we need to
participate fully in and benefit from our hyper-connected societies and
increasingly knowledge-based economies. Governments need a clear picture not
only of how labour markets and economies are changing, but of the extent to which
their citizens are equipping themselves with the skills demanded in the 21st
century, since people with low skills proficiency face a much greater risk of
economic disadvantage, a higher likelihood of unemployment, and poor health.
Our new publication
series, the OECD
Skills Outlook, aims to
provide that picture. It will offer an annual overview of how skills are being
developed, activated and used across OECD and partner countries, and highlight
the kinds of education, employment, tax and other social policies that
encourage and allow people to make the most of their potential.
This inaugural
edition of the OECD Skills Outlook is devoted to reporting the results of the first round of the Survey of
Adult Skills, a product of the Programme for the International Assessment of
Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The survey provides a rich source of data on
adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in
technology-rich environments – the key information-processing skills that are
invaluable in 21st-century economies – and in various “generic” skills, such as
co-operation, communication, and organising one’s time. If there is one central
message emerging from this new survey, it is that what people know and what
they do with what they know has a major impact on their life chances. The
median hourly wage of workers who can make complex inferences and evaluate
subtle truth claims or arguments in written texts is more than 60% higher than
for workers who can, at best, read relatively short texts to locate a single
piece of information. Those with low literacy skills are also more than twice
as likely to be unemployed. The survey also shows that how literacy skills are
distributed across a population
has significant
implications on how economic and social outcomes are distributed within the
society. If large proportions of adults have low reading and numeracy skills,
introducing and disseminating productivity-improving technologies and
work-organisation practices can therefore be hampered. But the impact of skills
goes far beyond earnings and employment. In all countries, individuals with
lower proficiency in literacy are more likely than those with better literacy
skills to report poor health, to believe that they have little impact on
political processes, and not to participate in associative or volunteer
activities. In most countries, they are also less likely to trust others.
These results, and
results from future rounds of the survey, will inform much of the analysis
contained in subsequent editions of the Outlook. The Outlook will build on the extensive body of OECD work in education and training,
including findings from its Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) and its policy reviews of vocational education and training, and its
work on skills, particularly the Skills Strategy – the integrated, cross-government
framework developed by experts across the Organisation to help countries
understand more about how to invest in skills in ways that will transform lives
and drive economies. The OECD Skills Outlook will show us where we are, where we need to be, and how
to get there if we want to be fully engaged citizens in a global economy.
Angel Gurría
OECD
Secretary-General
Executive
Summary
OECD Skills Outlook
2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills © OECD 2013 23
The technological
revolution that began in the last decades of the 20th century has affected
nearly every aspect of life in the 21st: from how we “talk” with our friends
and loved ones, to how we shop, and how and where we work. Quicker and more
efficient transportation and communication services have made it easier for
people, goods, services and capital to move around the world, leading to the
globalisation of economies. These social and economic transformations have, in
turn, changed the demand for skills as well. With manufacturing and certain
low-skill tasks increasingly becoming automated, the need for routine cognitive
and craft skills is declining, while the demand for information-processing and
other high-level cognitive and interpersonal skills is growing. In addition to
mastering occupation-specific skills, workers in the 21st century must also
have a stock of information-processing skills and various “generic” skills,
including interpersonal communication, self-management, and the ability to
learn, to help them weather the uncertainties of a rapidly changing labour
market.
The Survey of Adult
Skills (PIAAC) was designed to provide insights into the availability of some
of these key skills in society and how they are used at work and at home. It
directly measures proficiency in several information-processing skills – namely
literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. The
main findings of the survey and of the analysis of results are presented below.
What adults can do in literacy, numeracy and problem
solving in technology-rich environments
• In most countries,
there are significant proportions of adults who score at lower levels of
proficiency on the literacy and numeracy scales. Across the countries involved
in the study, between 4.9% and 27.7% of adults are proficient at only the
lowest levels in literacy and 8.1% to 31.7% are proficient at only the lowest
levels in numeracy.
• In many countries,
there are large proportions of the population that have no experience with, or
lack the basic skills needed to use ICTs for many everyday tasks. At a minimum,
this ranges from less than 7% of 16-65 year-olds in the Netherlands , Norway
and Sweden to around 23% or
higher in Italy , Korea , Poland ,
the Slovak Republic
and Spain
• Only between 2.9% and
8.8% of adults demonstrate the highest level of proficiency on the problem solving
in technology-rich environments scale.
How certain socio-demographic characteristics are
linked to skills proficiency
• Adults with
tertiary-level qualifications have, on average, a 36 score-point advantage in
literacy – the equivalent of five years of formal schooling – over adults who
have completed lower-than-upper secondary education, after other characteristics
have been taken into account.
• The combination of
poor initial education and lack of opportunities to further improve proficiency
has the potential to evolve into a vicious cycle in which poor proficiency
leads to fewer opportunities to further develop proficiency and vice versa.
• Immigrants with a
foreign-language background have significantly lower proficiency in literacy, numeracy
and problem solving in technology-rich environments than native-born adults
whose first or second language learned as child was the same as the language of
assessment, even when other factors are taken into account.
• While older adults
generally have lower proficiency than their younger counterparts, the extent of
the gap between generations varies considerably among countries, suggesting
that policy and other circumstances may weaken the impact of the factors
responsible for the otherwise negative relationship between key
information-processing skills and age.
• Men have higher
scores in numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments than
women, but the gap is not large and is further reduced when other
characteristics are taken into account. Among younger adults, the gender gap
difference in proficiency is negligible.
How skills are used in the workplace
• The use of skills in
the workplace influences a number of labour market phenomena, including
productivity and the gender gap in wages.
• It is not uncommon
that more proficient workers use their skills at work less intensively than
less proficient workers do, indicating that mismatches between skills
proficiency and the use of skills in the workplace are pervasive.
• An individual’s
occupation is more strongly associated with how that person uses skills at work
than either his or her educational attainment or the type of employment
contract he or she has.
• About 21% of workers
are over-qualified and 13% are under-qualified for their jobs, which has a
significant impact on wages and productivity.
How skills are developed and maintained – and lost
• Proficiency in
literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments is
closely related to age, reaching a peak at around 30 years of age and declining
steadily, with the oldest age groups displaying lower levels of proficiency
than the youngest. The decline in proficiency over time is related both to
differences in the amount and quality of the opportunities that individuals
have had to develop and maintain proficiency (particularly, but not exclusively,
through formal education and training) over their lifetimes, and to the effects
of biological ageing.
• At the country level,
there is a clear relationship between the extent of participation in organised
adult learning activities and average proficiency in key information-processing
skills.
• Adults who engage
more often in literacy- and numeracy-related activities and use ICTs more –
both at and outside of work – have greater proficiency in literacy, numeracy
and problem-solving skills, even after accounting for educational attainment.
Engagement in relevant activities outside of work has an even stronger relationship
with proficiency in the skills assessed than engagement in similar activities
at work.
The relationship between skills proficiency and
economic and social well-being
• Proficiency in
literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments is
positively and independently associated with the probability of participating
in the labour market and being employed, and with higher wages.
• In all countries,
individuals who score at lower levels of proficiency in literacy are more
likely than those with higher proficiency to report poor health, believe that
they have little impact on the political process, and not participate in associative
or volunteer activities. In most countries, individuals with lower proficiency
are also more likely to have lower levels of trust in others.
First Results from the Survey
of Adult
Skills
Foreword
OECD Skills Outlook
2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills © OECD 2013 3
It is no exaggeration
to use the word “revolution” when talking about how our lives have changed over
the past few decades. Today we rely on information and communication
technologies and devices that hadn’t even been imagined in 1980. The way we
live and work has changed profoundly – and so has the set of skills we need to
participate fully in and benefit from our hyper-connected societies and
increasingly knowledge-based economies. Governments need a clear picture not
only of how labour markets and economies are changing, but of the extent to which
their citizens are equipping themselves with the skills demanded in the 21st
century, since people with low skills proficiency face a much greater risk of
economic disadvantage, a higher likelihood of unemployment, and poor health.
Our new publication
series, the OECD
Skills Outlook, aims to
provide that picture. It will offer an annual overview of how skills are being
developed, activated and used across OECD and partner countries, and highlight
the kinds of education, employment, tax and other social policies that
encourage and allow people to make the most of their potential.
This inaugural
edition of the OECD Skills Outlook is devoted to reporting the results of the first round of the Survey of
Adult Skills, a product of the Programme for the International Assessment of
Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The survey provides a rich source of data on
adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in
technology-rich environments – the key information-processing skills that are
invaluable in 21st-century economies – and in various “generic” skills, such as
co-operation, communication, and organising one’s time. If there is one central
message emerging from this new survey, it is that what people know and what
they do with what they know has a major impact on their life chances. The
median hourly wage of workers who can make complex inferences and evaluate
subtle truth claims or arguments in written texts is more than 60% higher than
for workers who can, at best, read relatively short texts to locate a single
piece of information. Those with low literacy skills are also more than twice
as likely to be unemployed. The survey also shows that how literacy skills are
distributed across a population
has significant
implications on how economic and social outcomes are distributed within the
society. If large proportions of adults have low reading and numeracy skills,
introducing and disseminating productivity-improving technologies and
work-organisation practices can therefore be hampered. But the impact of skills
goes far beyond earnings and employment. In all countries, individuals with
lower proficiency in literacy are more likely than those with better literacy
skills to report poor health, to believe that they have little impact on
political processes, and not to participate in associative or volunteer
activities. In most countries, they are also less likely to trust others.
These results, and
results from future rounds of the survey, will inform much of the analysis
contained in subsequent editions of the Outlook. The Outlook will build on the extensive body of OECD work in education and training,
including findings from its Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA) and its policy reviews of vocational education and training, and its
work on skills, particularly the Skills Strategy – the integrated, cross-government
framework developed by experts across the Organisation to help countries
understand more about how to invest in skills in ways that will transform lives
and drive economies. The OECD Skills Outlook will show us where we are, where we need to be, and how
to get there if we want to be fully engaged citizens in a global economy.
Angel Gurría
OECD
Secretary-General
Executive
Summary
OECD Skills Outlook
2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills © OECD 2013 23
The technological
revolution that began in the last decades of the 20th century has affected
nearly every aspect of life in the 21st: from how we “talk” with our friends
and loved ones, to how we shop, and how and where we work. Quicker and more
efficient transportation and communication services have made it easier for
people, goods, services and capital to move around the world, leading to the
globalisation of economies. These social and economic transformations have, in
turn, changed the demand for skills as well. With manufacturing and certain
low-skill tasks increasingly becoming automated, the need for routine cognitive
and craft skills is declining, while the demand for information-processing and
other high-level cognitive and interpersonal skills is growing. In addition to
mastering occupation-specific skills, workers in the 21st century must also
have a stock of information-processing skills and various “generic” skills,
including interpersonal communication, self-management, and the ability to
learn, to help them weather the uncertainties of a rapidly changing labour
market.
The Survey of Adult
Skills (PIAAC) was designed to provide insights into the availability of some
of these key skills in society and how they are used at work and at home. It
directly measures proficiency in several information-processing skills – namely
literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. The
main findings of the survey and of the analysis of results are presented below.
What adults can do in literacy, numeracy and problem
solving in technology-rich environments
• In most countries,
there are significant proportions of adults who score at lower levels of
proficiency on the literacy and numeracy scales. Across the countries involved
in the study, between 4.9% and 27.7% of adults are proficient at only the
lowest levels in literacy and 8.1% to 31.7% are proficient at only the lowest
levels in numeracy.
• In many countries,
there are large proportions of the population that have no experience with, or
lack the basic skills needed to use ICTs for many everyday tasks. At a minimum,
this ranges from less than 7% of 16-65 year-olds in the Netherlands , Norway
and Sweden to around 23% or
higher in Italy , Korea , Poland ,
the Slovak Republic
and Spain
• Only between 2.9% and
8.8% of adults demonstrate the highest level of proficiency on the problem solving
in technology-rich environments scale.
How certain socio-demographic characteristics are
linked to skills proficiency
• Adults with
tertiary-level qualifications have, on average, a 36 score-point advantage in
literacy – the equivalent of five years of formal schooling – over adults who
have completed lower-than-upper secondary education, after other characteristics
have been taken into account.
• The combination of
poor initial education and lack of opportunities to further improve proficiency
has the potential to evolve into a vicious cycle in which poor proficiency
leads to fewer opportunities to further develop proficiency and vice versa.
• Immigrants with a
foreign-language background have significantly lower proficiency in literacy, numeracy
and problem solving in technology-rich environments than native-born adults
whose first or second language learned as child was the same as the language of
assessment, even when other factors are taken into account.
• While older adults
generally have lower proficiency than their younger counterparts, the extent of
the gap between generations varies considerably among countries, suggesting
that policy and other circumstances may weaken the impact of the factors
responsible for the otherwise negative relationship between key
information-processing skills and age.
• Men have higher
scores in numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments than
women, but the gap is not large and is further reduced when other
characteristics are taken into account. Among younger adults, the gender gap
difference in proficiency is negligible.
How skills are used in the workplace
• The use of skills in
the workplace influences a number of labour market phenomena, including
productivity and the gender gap in wages.
• It is not uncommon
that more proficient workers use their skills at work less intensively than
less proficient workers do, indicating that mismatches between skills
proficiency and the use of skills in the workplace are pervasive.
• An individual’s
occupation is more strongly associated with how that person uses skills at work
than either his or her educational attainment or the type of employment
contract he or she has.
• About 21% of workers
are over-qualified and 13% are under-qualified for their jobs, which has a
significant impact on wages and productivity.
How skills are developed and maintained – and lost
• Proficiency in
literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments is
closely related to age, reaching a peak at around 30 years of age and declining
steadily, with the oldest age groups displaying lower levels of proficiency
than the youngest. The decline in proficiency over time is related both to
differences in the amount and quality of the opportunities that individuals
have had to develop and maintain proficiency (particularly, but not exclusively,
through formal education and training) over their lifetimes, and to the effects
of biological ageing.
• At the country level,
there is a clear relationship between the extent of participation in organised
adult learning activities and average proficiency in key information-processing
skills.
• Adults who engage
more often in literacy- and numeracy-related activities and use ICTs more –
both at and outside of work – have greater proficiency in literacy, numeracy
and problem-solving skills, even after accounting for educational attainment.
Engagement in relevant activities outside of work has an even stronger relationship
with proficiency in the skills assessed than engagement in similar activities
at work.
The relationship between skills proficiency and
economic and social well-being
• Proficiency in
literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments is
positively and independently associated with the probability of participating
in the labour market and being employed, and with higher wages.
• In all countries,
individuals who score at lower levels of proficiency in literacy are more
likely than those with higher proficiency to report poor health, believe that
they have little impact on the political process, and not participate in associative
or volunteer activities. In most countries, individuals with lower proficiency
are also more likely to have lower levels of trust in others.
OCDE: Perspetiva
sobre Competências 2013*
Primeiros resultados da
avaliação de competências de adultos
Resumo
A revolução tecnológica que se iniciou nas últimas décadas do
século XX afetou quase todos os aspetos da vida do século XXI: desde a forma
como “falamos” com os nossos amigos e entes queridos, até à forma como
compramos, passando pela forma como trabalhamos. Serviços de Transportes e
comunicações mais rápidos e eficazes facilitaram a movimentação de pessoas,
produtos, serviços e capitais à volta do mundo, conduzindo à globalização das
economias. Estas transformações económicas e sociais levaram, por sua vez, à
modificação da procura no que toca às competências. Com a crescente
automatização da produção e das tarefas pouco qualificadas, a procura de
competências cognitivas e motoras básicas está a decrescer, enquanto a procura
de competências que implicam processamento de informação e outros processos
cognitivos e interpessoais superiores está a crescer. Para além de dominar
competências ocupacionais específicas, os trabalhadores do século XXI devem
também possuir sólidas competências de processamento da informação e outras
competências mais “genéricas”, incluindo comunicação interpessoal, autogestão,
e a capacidade de aprender para enfrentar as incertezas de um mercado de
trabalho em rápida transformação.
A avaliação de competências de adultos (PIAAC) foi desenhada
para recolher indicadores da existência de algumas destas competências chave na
sociedade e de como são usadas no trabalho e em casa. Foi medida a proficiência
em várias competências de processamento de informação, nomeadamente a
literacia, a numeracia e a resolução de problemas em ambientes tecnologicamente
ricos. As principais conclusões desta avaliação são apresentadas de seguida.
O QUE OS ADULTOS CONSEGUEM FAZER NA LITERACIA, NA NUMERACIA E
NA RESOLUÇÃO DE PROBLEMAS EM AMBIENTES TECNOLOGICAMENTE RICOS
·
Na
maioria dos países, existem partes significativas da população que obtêm
notação baixa em escalas de proficiência na literacia e numeracia. Nos países
envolvidos no estudo, entre 4,9% e 27,7% dos adultos são proficientes apenas
nos níveis mais baixos de literacia e entre 8,1% e 31,7% nos níveis mais baixos de numeracia.
·
|
Em muitos
países, encontramos grandes proporções da população que não tem experiência ou
não tem competências básicas necessárias ao uso das TIC no dia-a-dia. Tal verifica-se,
no mínimo, abaixo dos 7% dos 16-65 anos nos Países Baixos, na Noruega e Suécia,
progredindo até aos 23%, ou mais, na Itália, Coreia, Polónia, República Checa e
Espanha. Mesmo entre os adultos com competências informáticas, a maioria obteve
um baixo nível de classificação na escala da resolução de problemas em
ambientes tecnologicamente ricos.
·
Apenas
entre 2,9% e 8,8% dos adultos demonstraram o nível mais alto de proficiência na
escala da resolução de problemas em ambientes tecnologicamente ricos.
COMO CERTAS
CARACTERÍSTICAS SOCIODEMOGRÁFICAS ESTÃO LIGADAS ÀS COMPETÊNCIAS
·
Adultos
com qualificação superior têm, em média, uma vantagem de 36 pontos na literacia
– o equivalente a cinco anos de escolaridade formal – comparativamente com
adultos que completaram o ensino básico (não secundário), mesmo tendo em conta
outras características.
·
A
combinação de uma fraca escolaridade inicial com a falta de oportunidade para
aumentar as suas competências potencia um círculo vicioso no qual as fracas
competências levam a menos oportunidades para as desenvolver e vice-versa.
·
Os
emigrantes com uma língua materna diferente têm competências significativamente
mais baixas na literacia, na numeracia e na resolução de problemas em ambientes
tecnologicamente ricos comparativamente com adultos nativos cuja língua
materna, ou segunda língua aprendida em criança, foi usada na avaliação, mesmo
tendo em conta outras características.
·
Embora
adultos mais velhos tenham geralmente menos proficiência que os mais novos, a
distância entre gerações varia consideravelmente consoante os países, o que
sugere que a ação política, ou outras circunstancias, podem enfraquecer o
impacto dos fatores responsáveis pela, geralmente, negativa relação entre
competências chave de processamento de informação e idade.
·
Os
homens têm melhores desempenhos na numeracia e na resolução de problemas em
ambientes tecnologicamente ricos do que as mulheres, mas a diferença não é
muito grande se tivermos em conta outras características. Entre jovens adultos,
a diferença entre géneros é insignificante.
COMO SÃO
USADAS AS COMPETÊNCIAS NO LOCAL DE TRABALHO
·
O
uso de competências no local de trabalho influencia uma série de fenómenos do
mercado de trabalho, incluindo a produtividade e a diferença nos salários
consoante os géneros.
·
Não
é raro que trabalhadores mais proficientes usem menos as suas competências no
trabalho do que trabalhadores menos proficientes o que sugere que a falta de
correlação entre as competências possuídas e o seu uso efetivo no local de
trabalho é comum.
·
As
tarefas da responsabilidade do trabalhador têm mais influência sobre a forma como
este usa as suas competências no trabalho do que o seu nível de escolaridade ou
a categoria profissional para que foi contratado.
·
Cerca
de 21 % dos trabalhadores são sobrequalificados e 13% são subqualificados para
os seus posto de trabalho o que tem um impacto profundo sobre os salários e a
produtividade.
COMO AS
COMPETÊNCIAS SÃO DESENVOLVIDAS, MANTIDAS… E PERDIDAS
·
A
proficiência na literacia, na numeracia e na resolução de problemas em
ambientes tecnologicamente ricos está intimamente relacionada com a idade,
atingindo o seu auge cerca dos 30 anos e decrescendo regularmente, sendo que os
grupos etários mais idosos apresentam menores níveis de proficiência que os
mais jovens. O decréscimo da proficiência com o tempo está relacionado com a
quantidade e a qualidade das oportunidades que os indivíduos têm para
desenvolver e manter essa proficiência ao longo da vida (em particular, mas não
exclusivamente, através de educação e formação formais) e com os efeitos do
envelhecimento.
·
Ao
nível de cada país, há uma clara relação entre o grau de participação em
atividades organizadas de aprendizagem para adultos e a proficiência média nas
competências chave de processamento de informação.
·
Os
adultos que participam com maior frequência em atividades relacionadas com a
literacia, a numeracia e que usam mais as TIC, quer no trabalho, quer fora
dele, têm mais proficiência na literacia, numeracia e capacidade de resolução
de problemas, mesmo depois de serem reconhecidos do ponto de vista educacional.
A participação em atividades relevantes fora do trabalho apresenta uma relação
ainda maior com a proficiência nas competências avaliadas do que a participação
em atividades semelhantes no local de trabalho.
A RELAÇÃO
ENTRE A PROFICIENCIA E O BEMESTAR ECONOMICO E SOCIAL
·
A
proficiência na literacia, na numeracia e na resolução de problemas em
ambientes tecnologicamente ricos está positivamente, e de forma independente,
associada à probabilidade de integrar o mercado de trabalho e de tal acontecer
com salários mais elevados.
·
Em
todos os países, os indivíduos que demonstram níveis mais baixos de
proficiência têm mais probabilidade de apresentar problemas de saúde, de
acreditar que pouco podem influenciar os processos políticos, e de não
participar em atividades de associativismo ou de voluntariado. Na maior parte dos
países, os indivíduos com menos proficiência têm também, maior probabilidade de
apresentar baixos níveis de confiança para com outros.
