The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a global initiative led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to evaluate the proficiency of adults aged 16–65 in foundational information-processing skills. These include literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem solving (APS), all of which are crucial for personal, professional, and civic life.
PIAAC Cycle
PIAAC 2023 builds on previous assessments like the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and PIAAC Cycle 1. For Cycle 2, Ireland’s Central Statistics Office collected data from 3,820 adults between September 2022 and June 2023. Results were released 10 December 2024. Further details can be found on the Background Notes of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2023 release.
This second release primarily examines three areas from PIAAC 2023 data: the use of skills in both home and workplace settings; the extent and nature of skills mismatch, where individuals’ qualifications or competencies do not align with job requirements; and a range of social outcomes, including civic engagement, trust, political efficacy, and overall well-being.
2.1 Skills Use at Work
The background questionnaire captures how often adults use cognitive and digital skills at work.
Core Skills Examined:
- Reading: This section asks about the frequency of reading directions or instructions, letters, memos, e-mails, articles in newspapers, magazines or newsletters, books, scholarly publications, manuals or reference materials, and bills, invoices, bank statements or other financial statements.
- Writing: Similar to reading, this set of questions probes the frequency of writing activities in the workplace, such as writing letters, memos or e-mails, reports or articles, and filling in forms.
- Numeracy: This section investigates how often individuals engage in activities involving numbers, quantities, numerical information, statistics, or mathematics in their current or last job. Specific activities include undertaking calculations, using maps, plans or Global Positioning System (GPS), undertaking measurements, reading and preparing charts/graphs/tables, and using advanced mathematics or statistics.
- Information & Communication Technology (ICT): These questions determine the frequency of using computers or digital devices (smartphones, tablets) for various purposes in the current or last job, such as communicating with others (e.g., e-mails), accessing information (e.g., search engines), creating or editing electronic documents, using specialized software, and using programming languages.
Additional Work-Related Skills:
- Autonomy and Flexibility at Work: Questions assess the extent to which individuals can plan their own activities and organise their own time in their job. Additionally, it asks about the level of choice or change one has regarding the sequence of tasks, how work is done, the speed/rate of work, and working hours.
- Influence and Negotiation at Work: This section addresses the frequency of persuading or influencing people and negotiating with people inside or outside the firm or organization.
- Problem-Solving at Work: Questions differentiate between simple problems (taking less than 5 minutes to solve) and complex problems (taking at least 30 minutes to find a solution) encountered in the job.
- Physical Skills at Work: This covers the frequency of working physically for long periods and using hands or fingers for precision work.
- Learning and Adaptability at Work: Questions inquire about how often the job involves learning new things, learning-by-doing from tasks, and keeping up to date with new products or services.
2.2 Skills Use at Home
Mirroring workplace categories, these indices reflect personal use of cognitive and digital skills at home:
- Reading Activities Outside Work: This section focuses on reading activities undertaken outside of work or in everyday life, including directions/instructions, letters/memos/e-mails, newspaper/magazine articles, books (fiction or non-fiction), manuals/reference materials, and financial statements.
- Writing Activities Outside Work: Questions cover the frequency of writing activities outside of work or in everyday life, such as writing letters/memos/e-mails, reports/articles, and filling in forms.
- Numeracy/Mathematics Use Outside Work: This section asks about the frequency of engaging in activities involving numbers, quantities, numerical information, statistics, or mathematics outside of work or in everyday life. Specific activities include undertaking calculations (e.g., prices, costs), using information for financial decisions (e.g., household budgets), undertaking measurements (e.g., cooking, gardening), reading/preparing charts/graphs/tables, and using mathematics/formulas/rules.
- Digital Device Use in Everyday Life: These questions determine the frequency of using digital devices (smartphone, tablet, laptop/desktop computer) in everyday life, and for what purposes. Purposes include communicating with others, accessing information, entertainment/leisure, online banking/e-commerce, and managing personal life (e.g., health information, household budget, GPS).
Response Frequency Scale
To measure how frequently individuals engage in various skill-related activities, PIAAC employs a standardised response frequency scale. This scale ranges from 1 to 5, with each value representing a specific level of engagement:
1 = Never
2 = Less than once a month
3 = About once a month
4 = About once a week
5 = Daily
Respondents are asked to indicate how often they perform specific tasks - such as reading, writing, using numeracy, or engaging with digital devices - either at work or in everyday life. These responses provide a nuanced picture of skill use across different contexts and help identify patterns of engagement that may vary by demographic, employment status, or education level.
To facilitate international comparison and ensure statistical robustness, PIAAC uses Item Response Theory (IRT) to construct indices from these frequency responses. IRT allows for the estimation of latent traits - such as skill use intensity - by accounting for the difficulty and discrimination of each item. This method ensures that the resulting indices are not only reliable but also comparable across countries and languages.
The constructed indices are then scaled using a standardized method, where the mean is set to 2 and the standard deviation to 1. This normalization enables meaningful cross-national comparisons and helps interpret the data within a consistent framework.
In addition, Partial Credit Model (PCM) and Differential Item Functioning (DIF) techniques are applied to validate the comparability of items across different cultural and linguistic groups. These methods help detect and adjust for any biases that may arise due to translation or contextual differences.
Finally, Multiple Imputation is used to address measurement uncertainty and missing data. This statistical technique ensures that the final estimates are robust and reflective of the full sample, even when some responses are incomplete.
For more detailed information on the methodology, including technical specifications and validation procedures, readers are encouraged to consult the OECD’s Technical Report on PIAAC Cycle 2.
3.1 Skills Mismatch
This part of the release relates to the self-reported assessment of alignment between job tasks and skill levels:
- Over-skilled: More skills than needed for current role.
- Under-skilled: Fewer skills than needed for current role.
- Well-matched: Skills match the job requirements.
3.2 Qualification Mismatch
This is based on attained education vs. job requirement derivations:
- Over-qualified: Higher qualification than job requires.
- Under-qualified: Lower qualification than required.
- Matched: Qualification aligns with job.
- Mismatch may also involve field-of-study relevance.
PIAAC also collects data on non-economic outcomes:
- Political Efficacy: This question directly assesses an individual's perception of their influence within the political system. It asks, 'How much would you say the political system in the Republic of Ireland allows people like you to have a say in what the government does?' The response is on a scale from 0 ('not at all') to 10 ('completely').
- Trust: This question gauges an individual's general level of trust in people, asking 'Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?' The response is on a scale from 0 ('you can't be too careful') to 10 ('most people can be trusted').
- Voluntary Work: This question asks about the frequency of engaging in voluntary work over the last 12 months, including unpaid work for charities, political parties, religious organizations, sports clubs, trade unions, or other non-profit organizations.
- Future Benefit: This question explores an individual's willingness to make sacrifices for future gain, asking 'How willing are you to give up something that is beneficial for you today in order to benefit more from that in the future?' The response is on a scale from 0 ('completely unwilling to do so') to 10 ('very willing to do so').
- Life Satisfaction: This question assesses overall life satisfaction, asking 'All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?' The response is on a scale from 0 ('extremely dissatisfied') to 10 ('extremely satisfied').
