| Dateline! | | | | Russia - 98% |
| The cost to business at $4 billion per year, | | | | Philippines - 94% |
| The cost of Canadian society has been estimated at | | | | India - 65.38% |
| $10 billion per year, | | | | Philippines, ranking high at 94%, is home to many |
| Dateline! | | | | bilingual citizens - Filipino and English are widely spoken. |
| $60 billion annually in loss to U.S. companies, | | | | A study released from the University of California at |
| Dateline! | | | | Berkeley says the U.S. lost more than 1 million |
| Experts estimate $225 billion a year in loss to the | | | | white-collar jobs in the 1990s and "hundreds of |
| American economy | | | | thousands more since the turn of the century." The |
| If these headlines had appeared on the front page of | | | | study also shows that outsourcing is accelerating. |
| your news outlet, they might have grabbed your | | | | "If you simultaneously read Indian newspapers and U.S. |
| attention. The reality, however, is that they appeared | | | | newspapers, you're going to get a good correlation |
| under the radar, in what most people would consider | | | | between layoffs here and jobs being created there," |
| dull "White Papers". | | | | said Ashok Deo Bardhan, a researcher for the study. |
| The actual abstracts are: | | | | He added that as many as 30,000 jobs were lost to |
| ......The cost of illiteracy to Canadian society has been | | | | India in June alone, and that 14 million U.S. service jobs |
| estimated at $10 billion per year, the cost to business | | | | are vulnerable. (Hiawatha Bray, The Boston Globe, |
| at $4 billion - Journal article YLB. | | | | Nov. 2, 2003) |
| ...... And if measured in terms of financial interest, it | | | | An emerging global economy is shaping economic |
| means literacy problems cost corporate America | | | | conditions in the U.S. The phenomenon is profoundly |
| about $60 billion a year in lost productivity - National | | | | altering the nature of work. Jobs that require repetitive |
| Institute for Literacy. | | | | tasks are declining and their pay rates are decreasing. |
| ......Experts estimate that low literacy costs the | | | | The manufacturing industry is particularly vulnerable. |
| American economy $225 billion a year in lost | | | | Multi-national corporations can conduct operations |
| productivity - Carnevale, Gainer & Meltzer, The | | | | anywhere in the world, often choosing locations based |
| American Society for Training and Development, 1988 | | | | on optimum wage levels and productivity. Routine |
| and The Secretary's Commission on Achieving | | | | processes are increasingly performed in third world |
| Necessary Skills, U.S. Department of Labor, 1991. | | | | countries at wages inadequate for workers in |
| North America's business community is well aware of | | | | developed countries. Living wages in developed |
| the implications of this data. It's been trying to curtail | | | | countries are earned by jobs that require advanced |
| these and future losses for decades with resources | | | | skills and increased productivity. Service industries, |
| that have proved insufficient given the size of the | | | | especially those that do not require face-to-face |
| problem. | | | | customer interaction, are following manufacturing's lead. |
| In 1990, Southwestern Bell received 15,000 job | | | | (Reich, 1992) |
| applications; only 800 passed the company's basic skills | | | | The National Adult Literacy Survey (Kirsch, Jungeblut, |
| test. | | | | Jenkins & Kolstad, 1993) shows that about 50% |
| In Texas, which ranks second behind only California in | | | | of American adults perform at the lower two of five |
| its quantity of technology workers, an estimated | | | | literacy levels reported by the survey. Both are |
| 34,000 skilled technology jobs go unfilled. | | | | considered functionally illiterate. |
| 500,000 Information Technology jobs in the U.S. went | | | | The 18- to 30-year-old age bracket represents the |
| unfilled last year. This number is expected to surpass 1 | | | | highest levels of functional illiteracy. Someone from this |
| million in two years. | | | | age group may already be working next to you. Nearly |
| The state of Massachusetts discovered that more | | | | 2 million students graduating from high schools annually |
| than one-third of its 3.2 million workers are ill-equipped | | | | are in this group - functionally illiterate - a frustrating |
| to meet the demands of a rapidly changing economy. | | | | reality for American business and industry we are all |
| Of that one-third, many have high school diplomas but | | | | paying for. |
| lack the basic math, reading, writing and analytical skills | | | | Does literacy really pay off? Companies took it upon |
| needed to perform adequately in the workplace. (The | | | | themselves to find out. Zircoa, manufacturer of |
| Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth) | | | | nonclay refractories in Solon, Ohio, measured the |
| General Motors devotes more than 15% of the $170 | | | | productivity and profits of 10 workers in 10 different |
| million it spends yearly on job training to remedial | | | | jobs. After remedial skills training, the total profit from |
| education. | | | | these workers jumped from $14,000 to $75,000. |
| 50% of Fortune 500 companies underwrite remedial | | | | Marine Mechanical, a Euclid, Ohio-based supplier of |
| training for employees. The cost? $300 million a year. | | | | propulsion systems, tracked specific machine-related |
| According to labor data, bypassing intelligent, hard | | | | productivity levels during its training programs. A 60% |
| working, ambitious applicants due to skills deficiencies | | | | decline in parts deviations resulted. |
| risks running out of applicants altogether. In 1987, Xerox | | | | One company reported improved attendance and |
| Corporation chairman David Kearns foresaw the | | | | decreased worker's comp claims. Two others |
| necessity of hiring unqualified employees for the sake | | | | reported lower scrap and waste levels. And one |
| of company expansion. According to Kearns, | | | | boasted that its scrap costs declined from $256,900 to |
| businesses throughout the U.S. could be forced to hire | | | | $168,200 after just one year of training. |
| one million entry-level employees annually who are | | | | Over the past two decades, there has been an |
| unable to read or write. Recent government statistics | | | | increase in workplace-based literacy programs. The |
| support Kearns' prognosis: between 1995 and 1998, the | | | | growth is likely to continue. Workplace technology and |
| number of companies suffering shortages of skilled | | | | organizational restructuring are altering the nature of |
| labor surged. | | | | jobs. Workers are learning new skills or finding |
| Polaroid established the first on-the-job basic skills | | | | employment in different areas. These changes mean |
| program in the early 1970s. Other companies followed. | | | | more training, producing the collateral effect of |
| Still, 90% of American companies lack job training | | | | improved literacy skills. |
| programs. An exception is Hershey Foods in | | | | True literacy is a necessity to remain employable in an |
| Pennsylvania, which sends any employee without a | | | | increasingly competitive job market. It gives potential |
| high school diploma to GED classes. ("Illiteracy in the | | | | employees an edge. Statistics show that |
| Workplace", Jane A. Malonis, Encyclopedia of Business; | | | | pre-employment literacy training or the use of a "Self |
| eNotes.com, Nov., 2008, | | | | Directed" program such as the Literacy Pod makes |
| Springfield, MA-based Smith and Wesson has been | | | | candidates far more desirable and financially |
| using the University of Massachusetts since the late | | | | successful. |
| 1980s as a source for training in remedial skills and | | | | A look at the relationship between national literacy |
| English as a Second Language (ESL). In 1996, with | | | | rates and per capita Gross National Product (GNP) |
| production work diversifying, it expanded its skills | | | | suggests a strong correlation between literacy and |
| training. | | | | increased income levels. |
| "We needed something more formal and aggressive," | | | | Literacy Rate GNP per capitabelow 40%less than |
| said Bob Pion, director of training for Smith and | | | | $600above 98% more than $12,000 |
| Wesson. "So we turned to a professional organization | | | | The message, at least in individual economic terms, is |
| dedicated to skills issues." Enter Workplace Education | | | | that literacy pays off. |
| Group (South Hadley, MA), called upon to advise Smith | | | | Illiteracy may also mean income loss for society as a |
| and Wesson on its workforce training needs. | | | | whole. In 1993, according to the National Adult Literacy |
| But implementation costs can be preemptive. Start-up | | | | Survey, adult illiteracy in the U.S. carries an estimated |
| costs range from $2,500 to $100,000. Few companies | | | | price tag of more than $17 billion per year, including lost |
| can afford the $35 million on literacy training that | | | | income, tax revenue, welfare, unemployment, crime |
| Motorola, Inc. had expended by 1993. The training | | | | and incarceration, and training costs for business and |
| afforded the company the luxury of turning away job | | | | industry. This suggests that the price of illiteracy for |
| applicants whose reading and writing skills fell below | | | | society outweighs the cost of getting people literate. |
| the seventh-grade level. And even though a minimum | | | | STATS AND MORE STATS |
| of an eighth-grade literacy level increasingly disqualifies | | | | The military spends $70 million per year on |
| applicants in today's workplace, as a starting point for | | | | remediation for recruits. |
| training, it is much more cost effective. | | | | 50% of the chronically unemployed are not |
| Only 13% of American companies offer remedial | | | | functionally literate. |
| training to employees in literacy and math, down from | | | | An adult without a high school diploma earns 42% |
| a high of 24% in 1993, according to an AMA study | | | | less than an adult with a high school diploma. |
| released last year. The decrease belies a crucial | | | | High school dropouts have an unemployment rate |
| finding of the study: 38% of applicants lacked the | | | | 4 times greater than that of high school graduates. |
| necessary reading, writing and math skills to do the | | | | 41-44% of adults who scored at Level I on the |
| jobs they sought, a 15% increase in the past two | | | | National Adult Literacy Survey (1992) were in poverty, |
| years alone. | | | | compared with 4-6% of adults who scored at the |
| According to statistics published in 1998 by the National | | | | highest level. (Ohio Literacy Resource Center) |
| Institute for Literacy, skills deficiencies cost businesses | | | | Some researchers support the view that literacy skills |
| more than $60 billion annually, an amount comparable | | | | should be taught in a discrete, carefully sequenced |
| to Mobil Corporation's 1997 revenues. (America's 60 | | | | way. This approach is thought to be appropriate for |
| Billion Problem, D A N N A H B A Y N T O N) | | | | people at an especially low level of skills, some of |
| The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy | | | | whom might have learning disabilities that make |
| (NAAL) indicated that in 1993, 29% of adults who | | | | traditional methods ineffective. (Shaywitz & |
| scored below "basic" on the prose scale of the | | | | Shaywitz, 2001) |
| National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) were employed | | | | One study found that with an incremental approach, "... |
| full-time. This number rose to 35% in 2003. Translation: | | | | almost 70 % of workers reported math and/or reading |
| 10.8 million adults were working full-time in the United | | | | improvements. They noted improved work accuracy, |
| States with the lowest level of literacy skills. An | | | | more confidence, a greater sense of company loyalty |
| additional 10%, over 3 million, were working part-time at | | | | and, in the end, a more efficient workday. Supervisors |
| this level, a two percent increase from 1993. | | | | observed a greater openness to change among |
| The increase suggests a need to revive the federal | | | | employees, a general attitude improvement in |
| government's National Workplace Literacy Program | | | | teamwork, and identified broader options for |
| (NWLP) of the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. The | | | | promotion." |
| NWLP provided grants for developing and delivering | | | | Another study concluded the matter most |
| adult literacy, numeracy, and English language | | | | persuasively: |
| educational programs directly in, or in close proximity to, | | | | "Experts estimate that low literacy costs the American |
| places where low literacy adults work. (Tom Sticht, | | | | economy $225 billion a year in lost productivity. |
| International Consultant in Adult Education) | | | | Improved workplace literacy can increase employees' |
| OUTSOURCING TO THE TOP OF THE LIST | | | | efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity on the job. |
| According to a United Nations survey, the U.S. ranks | | | | As a result, employers experience greater customer |
| 49th out of 158 participating nations in adult literacy. | | | | satisfaction and process improvement, a lower incident |
| Below are the literacy rates of three of the top ten | | | | of accidents, reduced waste, and fewer errors." |
| locations where U.S. businesses outsource accounting, | | | | That's a cost we can live with. |
| IT, services and manufacturing positions: | | | | |