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Career and Technical Education (CTE) Statistics
Career and Technical Education (CTE) Statistics

Tables: Adult

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Table A42. Mean reading, writing, and numeracy skills use at work among employed U.S. adults ages 16-65, by educational attainment and occupational field: 2012/2014

Educational attainment and occupational field Mean reading skills use   Mean writing skills use   Mean numeracy
skills use		  
Total1 2.2   2.2   2.2  
             
Educational attainment            
Less than high school 1.3   1.5   1.9  
High school, no postsecondary degree 2.0   2.0   2.1  
Postsecondary degree 2.6   2.5   2.4  
             
Occupational field of employed adults            
Armed forces ‡   ‡   ‡  
Legislators, senior officials and managers 2.7   2.7   2.7  
Professionals 2.7   2.5   2.3  
Technicians and associate professionals 2.4   2.5   2.3  
Clerks 2.2   2.2   2.2  
Service workers and shop and market sales workers 1.8   1.9   2.0  
Skilled agricultural and fishery workers ‡   ‡   ‡  
Craft and related trades workers 1.9   1.7   2.2  
Plant and machine operators and assemblers 1.7   1.7   1.9  
Elementary occupations2 1.3   1.2   1.7  
‡ Reporting standards not met.
1 The total means presented in this table do not match the U.S. means in tables A39, A40, and A41 because these means are based on the U.S. 2012/2014 combined dataset, and the means in tables A39, A40, and A41 are based on previously published estimates from the U.S. 2012 dataset.
2 Occupations coded using the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). "Elementary occupations" include agricultural labor, construction, mining, transportation, food preparation assistance, cleaning, domestic help, and other routine manual labor.
NOTE: Skills use was measured on a 5-point scale, where 1="Never"; 2="Less than once a month"; 3="Less than once a week"; 4="At least once a week"; and 5="Every day". Estimates based on U.S. combined data from 2012 and 2014.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), U.S. PIAAC 2012/2014.
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