Adult literacy can help break cycle of poverty

Did you know that parenting, health, workforce development, and poverty are all affected by adult literacy? Adult Education can help break the cycles of inter-generational illiteracy and poverty by helping adults develop the skills they need to be successful as workers and parents.

The National Coalition for Literacy reports interesting facts regarding literacy and the employability and earnings of American adults. It states, “Low literacy has an adverse effect on the employability and earnings of American adults. The widening ‘skills gap’ continues to have an increasing impact on income inequality. Adults without a high school diploma are more than twice as likely to be unemployed, working in low-wage jobs, living in poverty, and relying on government aid programs as those with higher levels of education.”

Check out these facts from the National Coalition for Literacy:

Nearly 30% of adults with household incomes at or below the poverty line do not have high school credentials.

Individuals with high school level credentials earn about $10,000 more annually than those without.

Education levels had more effect on earnings over a 40-year span than any other demographic factor, such as gender or race.

Roughly half of the U.S.’s adult immigrants report that they speak English “less than very well,” yet by 2030, nearly one in five U. S. workers will be an immigrant.

Approximately 37% of adults enrolled in adult education are unemployed

As of 2018, 63% of all U.S. jobs require education beyond high school, yet nearly half of the workforce has only a high school education or less and/or low English proficiency.

A mother’s education level is the greatest determination of her children’s academic success, outweighing other factors such as neighborhood and family income.

Children whose parents have low literacy levels have a 72% chance of being at the lowest reading levels compared to 25% of children in the lowest reading level overall.

Children with parents who hold professional jobs hear more than 33 million words by the time they begin school compared with 10 million words for children from more disadvantaged groups.

(For more information, visit www.national-coalition-literacy.org.)

If you didn’t finish high school, 2020 could be the year to earn your GED® certificate! Now’s the time to set this goal for yourself and work to achieve it. Southwest Regional Adult Education offers tuition-free classes in Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, and Tazewell Counties. Contact us at 866-581-9935 for information about the reopening of our classrooms this summer and our online studies.

GED® is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education. Used under license.