Why numbers count
On National Numeracy Day we should remember the impact of good numeracy skills on people’s life chances and the wider economy
On National Numeracy Day we should remember the impact of good numeracy skills on people’s life chances and the wider economy
Most individuals would say they are not numbers people and the data clearly backs them up: nearly half of the UK’s working-age population have the numeracy skills of a child. Yet being able to work with numbers can bring big positive changes to people’s lives and the wider economy. National Numeracy Day is an opportunity to remind us of these benefits and see how numeracy rates vary across the country.
There is clear international evidence of the positive impact of basic numeracy skills on employment outcomes. Research from Australia, for example, suggests that improving numeracy skills is associated with higher employment chances, and according to the OECD, improving these skills increases hourly earnings by approximately 8-10 per cent.
Despite this compelling evidence, however, little is known about the numeracy skills of UK workers. The latest official data dates back to 2011, where almost one in four workers lacked basic numeracy skills. But behind the national headline, we have no official Government insight on how numeracy rates vary at the local level.
Data collected by the National Numeracy charity partly fills this gap and shows significant variation in numeracy levels across the country. As part of their mission to help people achieve basic numeracy skills, National Numeracy has a free online tool for people to test their skills. The test is not about complicated algebraic equations, rather it is about understanding whether an individual is able to calculate what x per cent of their wage is and other practical tasks we all use numbers for in our daily life. Everyone can access the tool, on a voluntary basis, which means the results of the assessment are not representative of the entire population. Nevertheless – with this caveat in mind – the data still provides interesting insights on how numeracy levels vary across the country.
York, Sheffield, Reading and Aldershot all produced good test outcomes, and in the latter two cities, National Numeracy is working with local colleges to improve residents’ numeracy levels. On the other hand, results in Plymouth and Newport are much lower, similarly to Sunderland, Chatham and Derby where, again, National Numeracy is actively working with local colleges.
Average numeracy score in the National Numeracy Challenge by city, 2016 (score from 0 to 100)
The findings emerging from this small sample suggest that there is clear variation across the country. More work and data is needed to understand why numeracy levels vary in different local economies and what national and local policymakers can do to improve them.
Basic numeracy skills can help individuals develop some of the analytical skills that are increasingly in demand in the labour market – for example by supporting people’s ability to solve complex problems. With one in five jobs in the UK at risk of automation by 2030, supporting workers to acquire better numeracy skills means giving individuals one more tool to be able to adapt to the changing world of work.
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