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

This chapter explores the relationship between adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem solving (APS) and a range of social outcomes for adults in Ireland. The analysis focused on adults aged 16 to 65 in Ireland and examined how their skills correlate with key indicators such as political efficacy, social trust, volunteering, future benefit orientation, and life satisfaction.

For several of these outcomes - namely political efficacy, social trust, future benefit orientation, and life satisfaction - respondents provided self-assessments on a scale from 0 to 10. To enhance interpretability and support statistical analysis, these responses were grouped into three categories: low (0–3), medium (4–6), and high (7–10).

For example, in the case of perceived political efficacy, respondents were asked:
"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?"
Responses were recorded on a scale from 0 ("not at all") to 10 ("completely"). These were then categorized as follows:

• Low political efficacy: 0–3
• Medium political efficacy: 4–6
• High political efficacy: 7–10

This grouping allowed for more meaningful comparisons across demographic and proficiency groups.

Unlike the other outcomes, volunteering was measured using a frequency-based scale rather than a numerical one. Respondents were asked ‘In the last 12 months, how often, if at all, did you do voluntary work, including unpaid work for a charity, political party, religious organisation, sports club, trade union or other non-profit organisation?’, with the following response options:

• Never
• Less than once a month
• Less than once a week but at least once a month
• At least once a week but not every day
• Every day

This ordinal scale captured the regularity of cultural participation, offering insights into how engagement with cultural life varies across different levels of skills proficiency.

Overall, across all three skill domains, statistically significant differences were generally observed between adults in the lowest and highest groups for each social outcome. These differences were evident in both average proficiency scores and the distribution of individuals across proficiency levels.

Political Efficacy

Adults with higher information-processing skills reported greater self-perceived political efficacy. For example, those with high political efficacy had a mean literacy score of 270 compared with 255 among those with low self-perceived political efficacy. Also, the proportion of adults reaching Level 4/5 in literacy rose from 6% in the low group to 12% in the high group. Both differences were statistically significant. Similar patterns were observed in numeracy and APS scores, with a corresponding decrease in the proportion performing at or below Level 1 as efficacy increases.

Social Trust

There was a strong link between information-processing skills proficiency and social trust. Adults with higher scores across all three domains were significantly more likely to express trust in others. For instance, the average numeracy score rose from 240 in the low trust group to 270 in the high trust group, while the share of adults at or below Level 1 dropped significantly. Similar patterns were observed in literacy and APS. 

Volunteering

Higher information-processing skills proficiency was also linked to more frequent cultural and civic participation. Those who engaged in cultural activities at least once a week (but not daily) had notably higher scores than those who never participated. For example, mean literacy scores increased from 257 among non-participants to 274 for those engaging weekly. A similar gradient appeared across numeracy and APS scores, though daily engagement groups showed greater variability.

Future Benefit Orientation

Adults with higher expectations for future benefits also tended to score significantly higher in all information-processing skill areas. In numeracy, for example, the average score increased from 235 among those with low expectations to 267 among those with high expectations. The proportion of adults at or below Level 1 dropped from 43% in the low expectation group to 21% in the high expectation group.

Life Satisfaction

Life satisfaction was positively associated with information-processing skills proficiency, although the differences were not statistically significant for APS. Adults with high life satisfaction generally scored higher across all domains; for example, average literacy scores rose from 249 in the low satisfaction group to 267 in the high group.