Even as education becomes increasingly important for functioning in society, and many welfare states have taken responsibility for providing education, many individuals have insufficient skill levels to fully participate in society. This paper investigates the relationship between literacy skills and basic functioning and participation in society, focusing on the role of the welfare state, and whether individuals with low literacy skills are better off in terms of labour market outcomes, quality of life, digital participation and adult learning in countries with higher investments in active labour market policies (ALMPs), and three underlying spending categories: 1) public employment services, 2) training and 3) private sector employment incentives. Through multi-level analysis of 25 Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and 139,449 individuals, using individual-level data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and country-level data from the OECD, our results show that while low literacy is associated with less favourable conditions related to all outcome variables investigated, ALMPs do not always moderate these negative associations. This is especially true for labour market participation, health and on-the-job training. However, higher ALMP spending is associated with more favourable conditions among low-literate individuals when it comes to job satisfaction, digital participation and life-long learning.

中文翻译：

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识字能力低的人的社会功能和个人发展；积极劳动力市场政策的作用

尽管教育对于社会运作变得越来越重要，并且许多福利国家承担了提供教育的责任，但许多个人的技能水平不足以充分参与社会。本文调查了识字技能与社会基本功能和参与之间的关系，重点关注福利国家的作用，以及识字技能较低的个人在劳动力市场结果、生活质量、数字参与和成人方面是否状况更好。对积极劳动力市场政策 (ALMP) 投资较高的国家的学习，以及三个基本支出类别：1) 公共就业服务，2) 培训和 3) 私营部门就业激励措施。通过对 25 个经济合作与发展 (OECD) 国家和 139,449 名个人的多层次分析，使用国际成人能力评估计划 (PIAAC) 的个人层面数据和 OECD 的国家层面数据，我们的结果研究表明，虽然识字率低与所有调查结果变量相关的不利条件相关，但 ALMP 并不总是缓和这些负面关联。对于劳动力市场参与、健康和在职培训尤其如此。然而，较高的 ALMP 支出与低文化人群在工作满意度、数字参与和终身学习方面的更有利条件相关。