S'pore improves in test of adult skills, but decline among older workers flagged

OECD study finds sizeable gap remains between young adults and older workers

- Elisha Tushara

The Republic has notched improvements in a global test of adult skills, though a sizeable skills gap remains between young adults and older workers here.

Results of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), released on Dec 10, showed that Singapore was the most improved country for numeracy alongside Finland, rising from 25th out of 39 countries in the previous study to 10th out of 31 countries in the most recent one.

The study, which assesses the proficiency of adults in numeracy, literacy and problem-solving skills, also saw Singapore climb the ranks in literacy proficiency of its adults, from 28th to 18th place.

Meanwhile, adults here scored at the average for adaptive problem-solving across the 31 participating countries.

But while younger people here aged 16 to 34 continued to score better than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average across all three categories, the study flagged a significant decline in literacy after the age of 35.

Conducted by the OECD, the study surveyed more than 5,000 Singapore citizens and permanent residents aged between 16 and 65 from 2022 to 2023. Singapore also participated in the study's first cycle, which was conducted from 2014 to 2015.

Finland took the top spot for both literacy and numeracy in the latest study. Japan and Finland both scored the highest for adaptive problem-solving.