Schooling, Literacy and the Labour Market: Towards a 'Literacy Shortage'?

Abstract

This essay attempts to determine whether the Canadian educational system is failing to produce an adequate supply of persons with the basic literacy skills required by a modern economy, using unpublished data from the Survey of Literacy Skills Used in Daily Activities. Two aspects of the issue are examined: first, the extent to which the literacy skills of succeeding age cohorts have improved; second, whether future labor market needs for literacy skills are likely to be met. We conclude that Canadians' literacy skills have improved over time, and that the Canadian labor market's demand for literacy skills will be met by the available level of these skill through the turn of the century.