The Literacy of Job Seekers ETS Policy Notes: News from the ETS Policy Information Center

Author(s):

Coley, Richard J. (Ed.)

Publication Year:

1992

Source:

ETS Policy Notes, v5 n1, Sum 1992

Document Type:

Periodical

Page Count:

12

Subject/Key Words:

Literacy, Employment, National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), Job Skills, Literacy Assessment, Labor Market, Demographics, Educational Achievement, Ethnicity, Gender Differences, Literacy Proficiency

Abstract

This issue of ETS Policy Notes (Volume 5, No. 1) provides an overview of the workplace literacy of job seekers in the United States based on the results of a large-scale literacy assessment that ETS conducted for the U.S. Department of Labor in the winter and spring of 1990. The assessment involved a representative sample of 20 million job seekers — those who had registered for unemployment insurance, applied for a job at the United States Employment Service, or enrolled in a program under the Job Training Partnership Act. The assessment measured literacy on three scales: prose, document, and quantitative. In addition, the study administered a questionnaire to those being assessed that asked for their demographic information, family background characteristics, level of education experience, and employment history.