Poor reading and math skills make for less productive employees - employees who need more time to process information and solve problems on the job. According to the World Literacy Foundation, the lack of such skills limits a person’s ability to engage in tasks that require critical thinking. The cost to business in lost productivity and profitability due to poor literacy and numeracy includes:
- The cost of fixing incorrect orders or processing refunds
- Customers lost due to poor communication
- Difficulty and cost of finding adequately skilled staff
- Resolving internal problems and issues arising from miscommunication or misunderstandings.
Poor basic skills are weighing down productivity growth in the US economy. Many employers have reported delaying capital investments because they haven't been able to find enough workers who would be able to operate and trouble-shoot their fancy new machines and equipment. Even robots need human overseers to program and direct their activities. Without workers who can take advantage of complex information technologies, workplace innovation will stall.
That's why robots haven't taken over yet.
References:
The Economic & Social Cost of Illiteracy. World Literacy Foundation, September 2015
Why is US productivity growth so slow? Possible explanations and policy responses by Martin Neil Baily and Nicholas Montalbano. The Brookings Institution, Hutchins Center Working Paper #22. September 1, 2016