Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) 2023 - Skills Use and Social Outcomes

This chapter explores how adults aged 16-65 in Ireland use key skills - such as reading, writing, numeracy, and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) - in both the workplace and daily life. It also examines broader work-related competencies including influencing others, problem solving, learning, and physical work demands. The analysis draws on indices constructed using Item Response Theory (IRT), which aggregates responses to multiple survey items into standardised measures of skill use. Each index combines responses to multiple survey items into standardised scores, the resulting scales are continuous variables, standardised to have a mean of 2 and a standard deviation of 1 across the pooled sample of respondents in all participating countries and economies. Higher scores indicate more frequent use of the skill. Further details can be found in the Background Notes.

Understanding the Indices

For example, the index for reading at work (READWORKC2) was based on six items, including reading instructions, e-mails, manuals, and financial documents. Similar indices were created for writing, numeracy, ICT use, influencing, task discretion, learning, and problem solving. Two additional indices - physical work and complex problem solving - were based on single items and used a 1–5 scale, where 5 indicates daily use.

Skill Use at Work in Ireland

Gender

Gender differences in skill use at work were generally modest. Men reported higher use of numeracy (2.3), ICT skills (2.3), and working physically for longer at work (3.2) which were statistically significant. Women reported higher use of influencing skills (2.3) and learning at work (2.4) however these were not statistically significant.

Age Group

Skill use at work varies across age groups:

• ICT use at work peaked among those aged 25–34 (2.5) and declined steadily with age, reaching 1.9 among those aged 55-65.
• Physical work was most common among the youngest workers (16-24 years), with an index of 3.8, and declined sharply in older age groups.
• Complex problem solving was lowest among the youngest (2.9) and oldest (3.0) cohorts, peaking in the 25–34 age group (3.5).

Educational Attainment

Education level was strongly associated with skill use at work:

• ICT use rose from 1.3 among those with less than upper secondary level education to 2.6 with tertiary graduates.
• Numeracy and reading followed a similar pattern, with higher scores among more educated groups.
• Conversely, physical work was most common among those with less than upper secondary education (4.2) and least common among tertiary graduates (2.5).

Economic Sector

Skills use at work also varied significantly by NACE sector:

• Physical work was most prevalent in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (4.8) and Accommodation & Food Service Activities (4.5) sectors.
• ICT use was highest in the Information & Communication sector (3.2) and lowest in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (1.4).
• Influencing skills was most used in the Education sector (3.3) and least in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (1.4).
• Problem solving was most used in the Financial, Insurance & Real Estate Activities and Information & Communication sectors, both at 4.1.

(See Figure 4.1, Table 4.1, and PxStat Tables PIAAC26, PIAAC27 & PIAAC28)

Skills Use at Home

Gender

As with skills use at work, there was little difference between the sexes in relation to skills use at home. Women reported marginally higher use of ICT skills (2.5) and reading skills (2.6) compared with men (2.3 and 2.4, respectively).

Age Group

Skill use at home varied across age groups:

• Adults aged 25–34 had the highest frequency of ICT use at home index of 2.8, while those aged 55-65 had the lowest (1.9).
• Numeracy skills use at home were highest among those aged 16-24 (2.4) and lowest among those aged 55-65 (1.8).
• For reading skills, there was little variation across age groups, with index scores ranging from 2.4 to 2.6.

Educational Attainment

The use of information-processing skills in everyday life appears to be related to educational attainment:

• Adults with less than upper secondary education reported an ICT use index of 1.8, compared with 2.7 among those with tertiary education.
• This trend was also evident in reading (2.8 vs. 1.9) and writing (2.5 vs. 1.9).
• However, numeracy skills use at home showed minimal variation, with scores ranging from 2.0 to 2.2 across education levels.

(See Figure 4.2, Table 4.2, and PxStat Tables PIAAC30, PIAAC31 & PIAAC32)