Adult Workers with Low Measured Skills: A 2016 Update

This fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education draws on data from the Survey of Adult Skills to provide an updated profile of low-skilled workers in the U.S. The update shows that the United States has a high percentage of low performers in literacy and numeracy, and that the skill levels of U.S. adults have remained stagnant over the past 20 years. Although two-thirds of low-literacy adults are employed, nearly 60 percent of lower-skilled adults earn incomes of less than $16,000 per year.