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

Author

Listed:
  • Garry Barrett

    (University of Sydney)

  • W. Craig Riddell

    (University of British Columbia)

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between age and literacy using data from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) and The Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). A negative partial relationship between literacy and age exists with literacy declining with age, especially after age 45. However, this relationship could reflect some combination of age and birth cohort effects. The analysis shows that in most participating countries the negative literacy-age profile observed in cross-sectional data arises from offsetting ageing and cohort effects. With some exceptions, 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. The results for birth cohort 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. Ce document étudie les liens entre l’âge et les compétences à l’écrit, à l’aide de données tirées de l’Enquête internationale sur la littératie des adultes (IALS), de l’Enquête sur la littératie et les compétences des adultes (ALL) et de l’Évaluation des compétences des adultes, lancée dans le cadre du Programme de l’OCDE pour l'évaluation internationale des compétences des adultes (PIAAC). Une corrélation négative partielle entre le niveau à l’écrit et l’âge existe, les compétences dans ce domaine déclinant avec l’âge, surtout après 45 ans, mais cette corrélation pourrait mettre en évidence une combinaison d’effets liés à l’âge et à la cohorte de naissance. L’analyse montre que dans la plupart des pays participants, la corrélation négative observée à partir de données transversales entre les compétences à l’écrit et l’âge est due à des effets de compensation liés au vieillissement et à la cohorte. À certaines exceptions près, les générations plus récentes présentent des niveaux plus faibles à l’écrit et les individus appartenant à une cohorte de naissance donnée perdent leurs compétences à l’écrit après leur scolarité à un rythme plus rapide que ce qu’indiquent les estimations transversales. Les résultats relatifs aux cohortes de naissance semblent indiquer qu’il n’y a pas de déclin général du niveau à l’écrit d’une génération à l’autre, mais que la majorité des pays soumis à l’étude parviennent moins bien à développer les compétences à l’écrit de génération en génération.

Suggested Citation

  • Garry Barrett & W. Craig Riddell, 2016. "Ageing and Literacy Skills: Evidence from IALS, ALL And PIAAC," OECD Education Working Papers 145, OECD Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:oec:eduaab:145-en
    DOI: 10.1787/5jlphd2twps1-en
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    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:

    1. 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).
    2. 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).
    3. 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.
    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. Brindusa Anghel & Aitor Lacuesta, 2020. "Ageing, productivity and employment status," Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, issue 1/2020.
    6. Jelnov, Pavel & Weiss, Yoram, 2022. "Influence in economics and aging," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    7. 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.
    8. 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.

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    More about this item

    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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