This document is one of series of fact sheets prepared by Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador.
The authors point out that while few people are unable to read at all, many have literacy levels that are lower than what is required to function effectively in today’s world.
Strong literacy skills are linked to better jobs, better health, and greater social engagement.
This fact sheet, part of a series developed by the Canadian Literacy and Learning Network (CLLN), examines the relationship between literacy and employment.
The authors of this document note that individuals with disabilities often encounter barriers to education, impeding the development of their literacy skills. That, in turn, hurts their job prospects.
This issue includes articles on a symposium held in Calgary to consider the results of the Canadian component of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS); plans for a workplace literacy forum to be held in Yellowknife; and the link between literacy retention and workplace literacy demands.
The study presented here examines the link between literacy, the economy, and individual income, the premise being that an individual with greater literacy skills would be expected to have better employment opportunities and command higher earnings. The authors begin by examining the distribution of literacy skills in the Canadian economy and how they are generated, looking in particular at schooling and parental influence.
The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was a seven-country initiative conducted in the fall of 1994 to create comparable literacy profiles across linguistic and cultural boundaries. This is a report of a study that analyses the New Brunswick data collected for the IALS in order to better understand literacy in the province.
The higher one's level of literacy, the greater the likelihood that stable employment is attainable. Studies suggest that more people with disabilities function at the lowest literacy levels and that less people with disabilities are employed than the population at large.
The Literacy is for Life Fact Sheet series is a series of two-pager highlights on literacy and related topics.
This Fact Sheet highlights Literacy and Poverty and how Canada's high rate of illiteracy/undereducation is not simply an education problem. It is a symptom of deep and widespread social inequality created, in large part, by poverty.
