This fact sheet claims that being able to access and manage information using ICT are essential skills in today’s increasingly knowledge-based economies. Higher proficiency in these skills is rewarded with a greater likelihood of participating in the labour force, and more frequent use of ICT at work is rewarded with higher wages than is observed among adults who are equally proficient in literacy and numeracy, but who have less proficiency in this skill or use ICT infrequently. Since adults with no ICT experience are at a considerable disadvantage in employment prospects and wages, policy makers can consider ways of ensuring that all individuals have access to ICT training, whether during compulsory education or in adult learning activities.

DOI: 10.1787/5js023r0wj9v-en