Talking ’bout my generation: More educated but less skilled Canadians

In this E-Brief, I compare the literacy and numeracy skill levels of Canadians in 2012, the latest evaluation, to those comparable competencies in 2003 (see Box for an explanation of these two international OECD surveys). Although more Canadians over the 2003-2012 period obtained a post-secondary education, their skill levels in literacy and numeracy moderately declined. Most participating OECD countries also experienced a decline in average numeracy scores, but Canada and Norway were the only two with a fall in literacy skills (Figures 1A and 1B).