England and Northern Ireland have low levels of numeracy, says international report

Across the two countries, a quarter (24.1%) of adults scored at or below Level 1 in numeracy, compared to the average for the 24 countries in the international survey of 19%. For literacy, 16.4% of adults in England and Northern Ireland scored at the lowest level of proficiency, compared to the average of 15.5%.

Responding to the OECD's Skills Outlook report, UCU said bold measures were needed to tackle the country's skills shortages.

The report, which surveyed working-age people in 24 countries, showed that England was also the only country where older people (55-65-year-olds) outperform young people (16-24-year-olds) in both literacy and numeracy.

Although older adults in England did score higher than the average of the 24 countries, younger adults showed some of the lowest scores for their age group. In Northern Ireland, the younger generation scored slightly better than the older but the differences were very small.

The union said the UK needed to keep pace with other countries when it comes to funding education if it is to avoid being left further behind. The UK invests 1.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in tertiary education, compared with the OECD average of 1.7 per cent.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It is deeply worrying that our young people are no better skilled than their grandparents' generation. If we are to stay competitive in the global labour market we need a strong supply of highly-skilled workers.

'The government needs to take bold measures to turn around our country's skills and give us a chance of competing with the likes of Korea, Finland and Germany who have shown an ability to create high levels of skills in their populations.

'The poor performance of the UK in terms of skills is linked to lower investment in post-16 education including in colleges and universities, as well as a culture which makes lifelong learning difficult and expensive for those who need it most.'

More on UCU's Knowledge Economy campaign can be found at: www.knowledgeeconomy.org.uk