Business
Literacy organizations are listening to the needs of business leaders in their communities. In a recent poll, 90% of Fortune 1000 executives expressed concern that low literacy is hurting their productivity and profitability. The National Institute for Literacy recently reported:
- American businesses are estimated to lose over $60 billion in productivity each year due to employees’ lack of basic skills.
- About 20% of America’s workers have low basic skills, and 7% of unemployed adults have reading or writing difficulties.
- Workers who lack a high school diploma earn a mean monthly income of $452.00, compared to $1,829.00 for those with a bachelor’s degree.
- The number of companies reporting skilled worker shortages more than doubled between 1995 and 1998, from 27% to over 47%.
A survey of more than 300 executives found that, while 71% reported that basic written communication training was critical to meeting their workplaces’ changing skills demands, only 26% of companies offered this kind of training. While 47% of the executives reported the need for workers to improve basic math skills, only 5% of companies offered basic math skills training.
