In Canada, there are consistent distribution patterns of literacy by education across the three scales. However, this is not the case in some other countries such as Germany. The report shows that, of those respondents with low education, a higher proportion of Canadians than Germans perform at Level 1 on the document and quantitative scales. It is possible that this difference is due to Germany's system of secondary vocational education which emphasizes work experience. IALS results suggest that document and quantitative skills are particularly important to success in the workplace. If this is the case, then young Canadian adults may be less well prepared for work than their German counterparts. This lends support to policies aimed at increasing Canadian secondary students' work experience through co-op programs, apprenticeships and other school-to-work arrangements.

Literacy and Immigration

The international study released in December 1995 found that in all IALS countries a significantly larger proportion of immigrants have Level 1 literacy skills in their new country's language than the non-immigrant population. This is because immigrants bring different educational experiences, and may have learned an official language only as a second or third language, or may be less familiar than the native-born population with the dominant culture of the country. In Canada, nearly three-quarters (74.7%) of the second-language foreign-born have literacy levels of 2 or 1 on the document scale, compared to 40.4 per cent of the native-born population. On the other hand, in Canada, the proportion of immigrants with Level 4/5 skills in English or French was higher than the proportion of non-immigrant Canadians.

Literacy at work

A considerable amount of reading, writing and arithmetic occurs in the workplace. For this reason it is a very important contributor to the maintenance and acquisition of literacy. Unfortunately, adults with low skills are less likely to be labour force participants and more likely to experience unemployment. They, therefore, find themselves at a distinct disadvantage. But even among individuals with low skills who have employment, the opportunity to use and expand their skills is diminished.

The IALS developed two indices to measure engagement in reading and writing in the workplace. In all countries, engagement in reading and writing in the workplace is lowest among individuals with the lowest literacy skills (Level 1). In contrast, individuals with high literacy skills have improved employment prospects, and are often in jobs requiring more frequent involvement in complex activities - activities that build and maintain skills. As Figure 3 shows, individuals with the highest literacy skills (Level 4/5) also have the most engagement in reading at work. It is also interesting to note that countries with large differences in reading and writing engagement in the workplace also have wide differences in literacy skills. In Canada, for example, the range of literacy scores in the population is relatively large, as is the contrast between high and low scores on the workplace reading practices index.