U.S. Young Adults' Skills by Student and Employment Status

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a cyclical, large-scale study of adult cognitive skills and life experiences. The study focuses on cognitive skills in three domains: literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. The purpose of this report is to provide researchers a simple and efficient way of investigating policy issues related to young adults (age 16-34) and their transition into the labor force using PIAAC data.

This report provides a first look at PIAAC 2012/14 data for U.S. young adults classified by the new student and employment status variable. Nearly 78 percent of U.S. young adults age 16 to 34 were either students or employed full-time, with 30 percent of young adults classified as students, and nearly one-half (48 percent) classified as employed full-time. The average scores for these young adults in literacy and numeracy were higher on average than for young adults who were non-students, regardless of whether these non-students were employed part-time, unemployed, or out of the labor force.

The report introduces a new variable for analyzing data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). This new student and employment status variable was developed to help researchers interested in examining the transition of young adults into the labor force. This report explains how this new variable was developed, how it differs from other existing variables, and what types of new analyses it supports.