Funding call on literacy of workers

Doug Hallberg estimates that, when he was working as a site manager for Carter Holt Harvey in Whangarei, as much as 30 per cent of his workforce struggled with basic literacy problems.

The company ran a literacy and numeracy training programme to meet the shortfall, to enable the business to function.

‘‘Virtually every role had a data entry requirement. We would have put over 100 people through training, just on that one site.’’

Now, he is a regional operations manager for Affco and says literacy issues come up when that company recruits for some roles, too.

He encounters people who have problems with everything from understanding written instructions to issues doing data entry. It signals a problem with the education system, he said.

‘‘We need to go back to basics, making sure kids are leaving primary school with a basic understanding of how to read and write, [and] basic arithmetic,’’ he said.

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said workforce literacy and numeracy needed urgent attention. He said little has changed since 2006.

The Industry Training Federation (ITF), BusinessNZ, English Language Partners, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU), and Literacy Aotearoa have banded together to call for increased government funding, greater awareness and prioritisation of adult literacy needs.

‘‘While this is not a new need, improving the literacy and numeracy skills of the workforce is growing in importance as sectors become digitised and automated,’’ Hope said.

Employment forecasts show New Zealand’s growth areas will be the industries with the lowest literacy levels, including construction, hospitality, wholesale and retail trade, and business service industries.

‘‘Poor literacy and numeracy skills are reflected in risks, errors, and accidents in the workplace, contributing to low productivity, which is a major issue for employers,’’ Hope said.

Literacy Aotearoa chief executive Bronwyn Yates said: ‘‘Research both internationally and within New Zealand has shown that people who have good literacy and numeracy skills are able to fully participate in in a modern society and high-skill economy. Yet a significant number of New Zealanders do not have sufficient skills to do so.’’

According to the most recent International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), adult numeracy skills in New Zealand are in general higher than the average among OECD countries.

But New Zealand is still underperforming, at 13 out of the 40 nations surveyed.

The gap in average literacy and numeracy skills between Maori adults and the total population narrowed between 1996 and 2014, as it did for Pasifika adults.

‘‘That’s positive, but the gap is still substantial and not narrowing fast enough,’’ Yates said.

ITF chief executive Josh Williams said there were a million New Zealanders below the level the OECD concluded was necessary to fully participate in society, which is equivalent to a reading age of about 12.

He said the issue was difficult as ‘‘these are not people who are going to enrol in courses. They’re going to their jobs every day.’’