Who Is Not Digitally Literate in the United States?

• In Event: 34.062 - What Skills Are Key to Labor Force Success? Results From the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies

Abstract

Objectives and Framework
The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) measures digital problem-solving skills, from basic to complex, among adults who know how to use a computer—the “digitally literate”.

Past reports have examined these digitally literate adults. Adults with strong digital problem-solving skills are typically young, frequent ICT users, highly educated, with highly educated parents, and have higher labor force participation and wages, while gender and immigrant status had a weak or non-significant relationship with digital problem-solving, on average, across counties (OECD 2015, OECD 2013). However, in the U.S., non-white adults, the foreign-born, and females all had lower levels of digital problem-solving skills, even after controlling for other characteristics (Reder 2015).

Unlike previous research focusing on digitally literate adults, this paper focuses on those who did not have the basic computer skills needed to participate in the digital literacy assessment—adults who are not digitally literate. It then presents an international perspective, examining the rates of digital non-literacy and computer use in the U.S. versus other countries.

Data and Methods
Data from the 2011-12 administration of PIAAC is used. The digital literacy assessment was undertaken by adults in 19 out of the 24 participating countries, and the international average here is based on these countries. The findings reported are statistically significant at the p < .05 level.

This paper examines how different groups of adults in the U.S. compare on rates of digital literacy by looking at the percentage of adults with selected education, demographic and employment characteristics who are not digitally literate. A socio-demographic profile of the non-digitally-literate is also created by looking at which groups comprise the largest and smallest proportions of adults who are not digitally literate as compared to the digitally literate. Next, the rate of digital literacy and portion of adults who use computers at work and in everyday life were compared in the U.S. and internationally.

Results
The U.S. average of 16 percent of adults who are not digitally literate varies by socio-demographic characteristics. Adults who are not digitally literate are less educated, older, non-White, slightly more male, and disproportionally foreign- compared to digitally literate adults. While employed at similar rates, the not digitally literate work in lower skilled jobs.

Internationally, rates of digital literacy are higher in the U.S. compared to average.
A larger portion of U.S. workers use computers at work compared to workers internationally, but a smaller proportion of U.S. adults use computers in every-day life.

Significance
As our economy and society become increasingly reliant on technology, a “digital divide” remains in the U.S., particularly among older, less educated, and less affluent populations. Closing the digital divide is important for jobs, productivity, knowledge, communication, and overall well-being (Council of Economic Advisors 2015).

Understanding the profile of those who do not have digital literacy skills will help to create targeted policies that aim to ensure technologies’ reach. Additionally, the international comparisons provide insight into the relationship between skill use and digital literacy skills.

Author

• Saida Mamedova, American Institutes for Research