28 March 2026
Young adults’ see improvement in skills, but older workers’ don’t
NFER has analysed data from the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills to find striking differences in the progress of young and older adults since 2012.
Young adults aged 16 to 24 have made marked improvements in their literacy and numeracy skills. This has lifted them from being among the worst performers internationally to among the strongest, with the proportion with low literacy skills almost halving.
However, adults over the age of 45 make up the majority of the 8.5 million working-age adults who still lack literacy or numeracy skills. Overall, there has been no significant improvement over the past decade, highlighting the worsening picture for older adults.
Compared to 75% of all UK adults, only ~55% of low skilled adults were in employment in 2023, also below the international average of 61-64%.
Read more about the Low Skills report.
Young adults aged 16 to 24 have made marked improvements in their literacy and numeracy skills. This has lifted them from being among the worst performers internationally to among the strongest, with the proportion with low literacy skills almost halving.
However, adults over the age of 45 make up the majority of the 8.5 million working-age adults who still lack literacy or numeracy skills. Overall, there has been no significant improvement over the past decade, highlighting the worsening picture for older adults.
Compared to 75% of all UK adults, only ~55% of low skilled adults were in employment in 2023, also below the international average of 61-64%.
Read more about the Low Skills report.
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