Illiteracy and Unemployment: A Global Crisis! via World Literacy Foundation

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Illiteracy and Unemployment: A Global Crisis!

World Literacy Foundation: 2019 by Eli Furnari

Getting a job is hard enough. What if you couldn’t read or write? While this may seem unthinkable for many of us, illiteracy and low levels of education are contributing to alarming rates of global unemployment. Almost 200 million people in the world are unemployed and illiteracy is costing the global economy a massive $1.5 trillion a year!

How illiteracy affects unemployment

When it comes to finding and keeping a job, these basic tasks would be impossible if you couldn’t read or write:

⦿ Reading job ads and writing job applications

⦿ Reading and writing work emails

⦿ Checking bank accounts when you get paid

⦿ Accessing your organization’s website/social media

Today, many jobs require even more advanced digital skills, financial literacy, and critical thinking. Without the foundations of education, employment prospects are slim.

For those with low literacy levels who do find work, it’s often unstable, low paying jobs with little possibility of career progression. Furthermore, children of illiterate and unemployed parents often inherit the same problems.

The costs of illiteracy and unemployment

More than two billion adults worldwide don’t have the essential literacy skills employers need. Sadly, almost half a billion are young adults under the age of 25 and the incidence is much higher for women than men.

Unemployment causes lost productivity which slows economic growth. Perhaps more important is the emotional and social impact. For millions, the loss of income and poverty affect self-worth. This is a distressing and immeasurable cost.  READ MORE >>

2019: The Economic Social Cost of Illiteracy, World Literacy Foundation

Literacy Reports & Statistics

International

Ongoing

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, PIRLS

Program for International Student Assessment,  PISA

Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, PIAAC

2019: Economic & Social Cost of Illiteracy: A snapshot of illiteracy . . . World Literacy Foundation

2017: Literacy Rates Continue to Rise . . . , UNESCO Fact Sheet No. 45:

2016: Human Development Index, UNDP

2015: *Economic & Social Cost of Illiteracy: A snapshot of illiteracy . . . World Literacy Foundation

2012: Economic & Social Cost of Illiteracy: A snapshot of illiteracy . . . World Literacy Foundation

2006: Literacy for Life, Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO

2003-12: Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE), UNESCO