Secondary Analysis of National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) Data

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) is a comprehensive measure that includes education and work histories, personal characteristics, and literacy skills data for 19,000 respondents. Findings from this study show that 30 million people in the United States lack the literacy skills needed to take full advantage of career opportunities.

AIR was responsible for the analysis and report writing for the 2003 NAAL. Subsequently, AIR conducted additional analyses on these data to provide policy makers and workforce development professionals with a greater understanding of the connections between literacy, educational levels, language barriers, and economic and employment status for four subpopulations of NAAL respondents: Non-native-English speakers, young adults, female recipients of public assistance, and incarcerated adults near release from prison.