2023 Survey of Adult Skills results

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published the findings of their 2023 Survey of Adults Skills. This survey comes from the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The aim of the study is to learn more about literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem-solving skills of adults around the world. The previous PIAAC survey was held in 2011.

Thirty-one countries and economies took part in the 2023 study. Twenty-seven of these countries also participated in the 2011 study.

The 2023 study results show that:

• adult skills mostly got worse or stayed the same
• half of the countries saw an increase in the share of adults scoring at or below the lowest level for literacy skills
• the gap grew between the lowest-performing and highest-performing 10% of adults in 17 countries.

While Australia participated in the 2011 study, we did not complete the 2023 study. Instead, the Australian Government, led by Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), is running its own national study on adult literacy, numeracy and digital skills. It’s called the Foundation Skills Study. JSA expects to collect around 10,000 responses to the survey from Australian residents aged 15 years and older.

The study is made up of 4 main parts:

• A survey of adult literacy and numeracy, which aims to assess these skill levels of adults across Australia.
• First Nations skills assessment, which aims to assess literacy, numeracy and digital skills of First Nations communities.
• Data analysis, which aims to assess skill levels of specific groups.
• Define digital literacy for Australia and trial that definition with key groups to create a national standard.

The key findings from the JSA Foundation Skills Study are expected in mid-2026.

You can find more information about Australia’s involvement in the PIAAC study and Foundation Skills Study on the Compliance and Quality Assurance website.

You can read the full PIAAC study results on the OECD website.

You can read more about the JSA Foundation Skills Study on the JSA website.