Poor literacy, numeracy of Aust'n workers hampering profitability: study

Australian businesses profitability is being dulled by workerspoor literacy and numeracy, according to a leading study.

The Australian Industry Group (AI Group), which employs over 750,000 people across Australia, found that many of the nation's workers had poor English skills and struggled to complete basic math tasks.

According to the AI Group report, released on Monday, every workplace in the country has at least one employee who struggles to complete basic tasks.

Nine out of 10 bosses complained that their employees werent able to do simple sums, type on their computer or laptop, prepared work riddled with grammatical errors and could not give clear and concise directions.

AI Group chief executive Innes Willox told News Corp on Monday that he had a "deepening concern about the level of foundation skills in the workforce and a continuing drag on the nations productivity".

The latest research showed Australians were well below the international standard for proficiency levels in both literacy and numeracy, at 44 percent and 55 percent respectively.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the damning findings would not go unnoticed by the government, and they would look at installing new programs in schools to foster better outcomes for the next generation of Australians.

"We must embrace the digital age, diversify our economy and upskill Australians to meet the jobs of the 21st century," Senator Birmingham told News Corp on Monday.

"Key to the success of this and future generations of young Australians is in having an excellent grasp of literacy and numeracy."

"Mistakes are costly and business is saying too many mistakes are being made." Endit