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Improvements in workforce skills are essential for European countries to attain higher economic growth and to compete effectively on product markets. Literature indicates a positive relationship between levels of education and productivity growth. This report builds on and expands this body of research in two ways: (1) It investigates the differential impact of various skill types--higher (academic), upper-intermediate vocational, lower-intermediate vocational, lower-intermediate general, and low--on labour productivity; and (2) It accounts for the stock of uncertified skills (i.e. those built through training). The analysis is carried out in six European Union Member States--Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom--representing different modes of vocational education and training (VET) and those for which data were available. The analysis suggests that general and vocational skills complement each other and that the effect of certified skills on productivity is stronger when certified skills are reinforced by training. This study underlines that learning in the workplace, both in initial and continuing VET, makes a fundamental contribution to productivity, and comes to support policy efforts to develop apprenticeship and adult learning. The following annex is included: (1) Overview of research methods used in the study. [This publication is the result of a team effort reflecting the work of a research consortium of Geoff Mason, Dawn Holland, Iana Liadze, Rebecca Riley, Ana Rincon-Aznar, and Mary O'Mahony, and their aids Tatiana Fic, Rachel Whitworth, Yasheng Maimaiti, and Fei Peng. This work was carried out under contract number 2009-0216/AO/RPA/GUTCHPDE/VET-Macroeconomic-benefits/010/0.]

This report reviews the use of loans for learning in 33 European countries and analyses the schemes in eight selected Member States: France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Finland, Sweden and the UK. The analysis shows that loan schemes vary considerably across Europe in terms of types and levels of learning covered, conditions of access, repayment and governance. Some loans aim to increase participation in learning in general, while others are designed to promote equity. The report attempts to assess the selected loans and discusses their strengths and weaknesses and determinants of performance, while considering if a given scheme operates on a large scale or targets niche groups. The evaluation results provide a basis for identifying good practice principles for designing and implementing loans. Policy recommendations are formulated based on these findings. Annexed are: (1) Methodology; (2) Key terms and definitions; (3) Information on countries/schemes selected for in-depth analysis; (4) Proposed typologies of VET loan schemes; (5) Tables and figures; (6) Tosmana truth tables; (7) Questionnaires; (8) Basic characteristics of non-European loan schemes. (Contains 37 tables, 5 figures, 20 boxes and 33 footnotes.)

This 22-country survey was conducted between 1994 and 1998. Representative samples of adults aged 16-65 were interviewed and tested at home using the same literacy tests. The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults use information to function in society. Another aim was to investigate the factors that influence literacy proficiency and to compare these between countries. Ten international indicators are presented that allow readers to compare the literary proficiency of Americans with that of other populations as measured on the prose literary scale; similar results are provided in quantitative scales. The findings confirm how low literacy is an important issue in all regions in all countries surveyed. On the whole, the findings show that Americans are at an average level of prose literacy performance, behind the Nordic countries and the Netherlands but on a par with adults in Australia, Canada, and Germany. Literacy proficiency is more unequally distributed in the United States and Canada than in Europe, with the most literate 25% of North Americans scoring far higher than average. "Life-long" learning programs, as well as early childhood education, more access to adult education and to information and communication technologies, and the promotion of literacy-rich environments at work, home, and in the community are proposed as solutions to improve adult literacy. The paper is divided into 3 chapters, 4 annexes, and 10 data-rich figures. (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education) (KFT)