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Ageing and Literacy Skills: Evidence from IALS, ALL and PIAAC

Author

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  • Barrett, Garry F.

    (University of Sydney)

  • Riddell, W. Craig

    (University of British Columbia, Vancouver)

Abstract

We study the relationship between age and literacy skills using data from the IALS, ALL and PIAAC surveys. In cross-sectional data there is a negative partial relationship between literacy skills and age that is statistically significant indicating that literacy declines with age, especially after age 45. However, this relationship could reflect some combination of age and birth cohort effects. In order to isolate age effects, we use the three international surveys to create synthetic cohorts. Our analysis shows that in most participating OECD countries the negative slope of the literacy-age profile in cross-sectional data arises from offsetting ageing and cohort effects. In these countries more recent birth cohorts have lower levels of literacy and individuals from a given birth cohort lose literacy skills after they leave school at a rate greater than indicated by cross-sectional estimates. Finland, Italy and the Netherlands are exceptions to this pattern; in these countries more recent cohorts have higher literacy levels and the cross-sectional estimates overstate the rate at which literacy declines with age. Our birth cohort results suggest that there is not a general tendency for literacy skills to decline from one generation to the next, but that the majority of the countries examined are doing a poorer job of developing literacy skills in successive generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Barrett, Garry F. & Riddell, W. Craig, 2016. "Ageing and Literacy Skills: Evidence from IALS, ALL and PIAAC," IZA Discussion Papers 10017, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Green, David A. & Riddell, W. Craig, 2013. "Ageing and literacy skills: Evidence from Canada, Norway and the United States," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 16-29.
    2. Green, David A. & Craig Riddell, W., 2003. "Literacy and earnings: an investigation of the interaction of cognitive and unobserved skills in earnings generation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 165-184, April.
    3. Ana Ferrer & David A. Green & W. Craig Riddell, 2006. "The Effect of Literacy on Immigrant Earnings," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(2).
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    Cited by:

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    2. Chyul-Young Jyung & Yoowoo Lee & Sunyoung Park & Eunhye Cho & Romi Choi, 2020. "Factors Affecting Employees’ Problem-Solving Skills in Technology-Rich Environments in Japan and Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Flisi, Sara & Goglio, Valentina & Meroni, Elena Claudia & Vera-Toscano, Esperanza, 2019. "Cohort patterns in adult literacy skills: How are new generations doing?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 52-65.
    4. Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Elena C. Meroni, 2021. "An Age–Period–Cohort Approach to the Incidence and Evolution of Overeducation and Skills Mismatch," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 711-740, January.
    5. Jelnov, Pavel & Weiss, Yoram, 2022. "Influence in economics and aging," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Audra Bowlus & Chris Robinson, 2020. "The evolution of the human capital of women," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(1), pages 12-42, February.
    7. Martin, John P., 2018. "Skills for the 21st Century: Findings and Policy Lessons from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills," IZA Policy Papers 138, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Helliar, C.V. & Lowies, B. & Suryawathy, I.G.A. & Whait, R. & Lushington, K., 2022. "The genre of banking financial product information: The characters, the setting, the plot and the story," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(5).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; ageing; cognitive skills; literacy; cohort effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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