From 2003 to 2011, literacy rates in Canada fell by seven percentage points, according to the International Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey and the Program for the Assessment of International Adult Competencies Survey, respectively. To explain the data, the authors cite three underlying causes: a failure in the educational system, a high proportion of low-skilled workers in the labour force with a lack of opportunity for up-skilling, and skill loss due to disuse. They argue that the decline in literacy impacts Canadians and the economy at three levels. First, illiteracy makes one more vulnerable to job loss and can make finding new work even more challenging. Second, and related, Employment and Social Development Canada’s (ESDC) Essential Skills Profiles show that most occupations require workers to possess minimum literacy scores of 3 out of 5 to be fully productive at their job. Yet, in comparing the assessments of individual Canadians in 2011, Lane and Murray show that the supply of workers with this minimum literacy level has not kept pace with demand. Finally, declining literacy rates and levels can drag down both GDP and worker productivity.

To address declining literacy rates, the authors suggest that Canada improve the literacy skills of students in K-12 and post-secondary education, invest in understanding the skill needs of employers, embed literacy training in all aspects of workforce training, encourage literacy use at work in order to halt loss due to disuse, and mandate the new Future Skills Centre to include cognitive skills in its research.