National Adult Literacy Database

The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) has always been committed to supporting its partners in their collective efforts to help Canadians attain the essential skills they need to succeed in life, at work and in society.

In this, the inaugural issue of Insights, OLES focuses on employer perceptions of workplace literacy and essential skills (LES) training, a good starting point from which to examine other themes and other aspects of LES in upcoming issues.

Some key points from this issue that will guide future discussion:

• There remains a lack of understanding about essential skills training and its related benefits.
• Higher skilled workers still receive the majority of workplace-sponsored training.
• The smaller the business, the bigger the challenge appears to be.
• A large proportion of employers need guidance to be able to overcome ES gaps and to truly benefit from training investments.