Cognitive skills in middle-income countries: Evidence from PIAAC and STEP
The OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), which measures cognitive skills of the adult population, has recently been expanded to include nine additional countries (see our earlier blog post “The survey of adult skills: Nine more countries added on”). As a result of this extension, the survey now covers 33 countries. The PIAAC survey is not the only survey that provides comparable information on cognitive skills. In 2010 the World Bank launched its STEP skills measurement programme for low- and middle-income countries. The information on literacy skills in the STEP survey is measured on the same scale as the PIAAC cognitive skills, making it possible to compare literacy skills across STEP and PIAAC countries. The countries covered by STEP are: Armenia, Bolivia, Colombia, Georgia, Ghana, Kenya, Ukraine and Vietnam.[i] The sample population in the STEP countries is restricted to urban areas, whereas in the majority of PIAAC countries the entire territory is covered. Consequently, the STEP results are likely to be higher than would have been obtained if both urban and rural zones had been covered.
To read the entire blog, please click on link below: