Nationally, as well as in most of the regions, the average scores of knowledge experts, managers, and information skills professionals correspond to Level 3 proficiency in prose literacy, document literacy and numeracy. The average scores of workers in services and goods-related occupations across these three domains are generally at Level 2. For example, in Canada, the average document literacy score of knowledge experts is 53 points higher than the average score of workers in the goods production occupations.

The relative composition of occupations in regional labour markets can vary due to the importance of certain economic sectors. Occupations requiring higher use of cognitive knowledge and skills tend to feature higher proportions of workers with high literacy proficiency (Levels 3 and 4/5) in the four domains assessed.

Figure 4.4 shows that, for the nation and the six regions, the majority of knowledge experts score at Level 3 or above in prose literacy proficiency. In fact, the proportion of knowledge experts at the highest level of literacy, Level 4/5, ranges from 36 percent to 50 percent. In contrast, in all regions around half or fewer of workers in services and goods production occupations are at or above Level 3 in prose literacy.

Figure 4.4

Many occupations in the knowledge economy require frequent processing of information not only through reading and numeracy practices but also through writing. Figure 4.5 shows that the extent of writing engagement at work is strongly associated with the occupation of workers. The pattern is similar in all regions and suggests that workers in knowledge-related occupations, including knowledge experts, managers and high-skill information professionals, tend to engage more often in writing at work than do low-skill information, services and goods production workers.