Skills for a changing world – The OECD Survey of Adult Skills
Feb 6, 2025 | 9:00 AM - 10:00 AMCC1
Feb 6, 2025 | 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
CC1
Description
In today’s fast-paced, information-rich societies, having the right skills is more important than ever. How can governments ensure that adults have relevant skills for the labour market and social life? This is where the OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills comes in. It assesses how well adults can read and understand text, work with numbers and solve complex problems – foundational skills necessary for the development of more advanced skills. Overall, the results highlight a sobering reality: despite substantial investments in education, upskilling and reskilling, and a rise in educational attainment, adult skill levels have largely stagnated—or in the case of literacy, often declined. In OECD countries, one in five adults who participated in the survey struggle with basic tasks like reading simple texts or solving basic arithmetic problems. But some countries were able to improve adult skills and other countries are good at put at skills to effective use and these show how we can prepare ourselves better for tomorrow’s world.
