Building on our Competencies : Canadian Results of the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey

Text box B4

Measuring engagement in literacy and
numeracy related tasks at work

The IALSS survey gathered information on select reading, writing and numeracy related activities at work. This includes 17 items as follows:

Six items regarding the frequency of reading or using information from each of the following as part of the respondent’s main job: letters, memos or e-mails; reports, articles, magazines or journals; manuals or reference books including catalogues; diagrams or schematics; directions or instructions; bills, invoices, spreadsheets or budget tables.
Five items regarding the frequency of writing or filling out each of the following as part of the respondent’s main job: letters, memos or emails; reports, articles, magazines or journals; manuals or reference books including catalogues; directions or instructions; bills, invoices, spreadsheets or budget tables.
Six items regarding the frequency of doing each of the following as part of the respondent’s main job: measure or estimate the size or weight of objects; calculate prices, costs or budgets; count or read numbers to keep track of things; manage time or prepare timetables; give or follow directions or use maps or street directories; use statistical data to reach conclusions.

Using these items, reading, writing and numeracy indices were created. This involved a three step process. First, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to explore and model the data. Second, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to validate the models chosen and hence the indices. Third, items were selected and scaled according to the CFA using the Rasch item response model. The scale score is a weighted maximum likelihood estimate, and countries were given equal weight in the scaling process. Indices are standardized so the mean of the index value for the combined sample of all participating countries is two and the standard deviation is one. But for the purpose of the analyses reported in Figure 4.5, the index scores are reported as ranging from zero to four in order to facilitate the interpretation of the scale. The scale values roughly correspond as follows: one is “never”; two is “rarely”; three is “less than once a week”; and four is “at least once a week”.

Proficiency among industrial sectors

Knowledge intensive industries, by their very nature, are likely to have a greater demand for highly proficient workers. As the knowledge-based economy increases in size and importance, supporting this growth sector will require a sufficient supply of highly proficient workers. Table 4.1 provides a profile of the proficiency of the labour force in different industrial sectors (See Text Box C4).

At the national level, two industries stand out as having relatively high average proficiency scores in all four of the domains assessed - knowledge-intensive market service industries and public administration, defence, education and health. Workers in several other industrial sectors, including other community social and personal services, high and medium-high technology manufacturing industries, and transport and storage, also have average scores that correspond to Level 3 proficiency in prose and document literacy and in numeracy. Two industries, low and medium-lowtechnology manufacturing, and primary industries have workers with average scores at Level 2 in both literacy domains and in numeracy.