One in Six American Adults Lack Basic Skills: The PIAAC Results and Implications for Federal Policy

By Mary Alice McCarthy.Yesterday, the OECD released its long-awaited Survey of Adult Skills, also known as PIAAC. To no one’s surprise, the United States failed to score above the cross-country average on any of the three assessed skills. On numeracy, the US found itself near the bottom of the pack, alongside Italy and Spain, and ranking well below competitors like Japan and Germany. On the literacy front we eked out a spot in the middle, but only because older Americans made up for the relatively poor scores of younger adults – not exactly a harbinger of future prowess. The US did manage to finish above average in one category – the percentage of our population that is low-skilled. Thirty six million Americans, one in six adults, lack basic literacy and numeracy skills, compared with one in twenty adults in Japan. More...