Michigan Literacy, Inc.

Michigan Literacy Inc.

Improving basic literacy and education skills can be the key to long-term self-sufficiency for welfare recipients because:

Welfare recipients generally have low education skills.

Welfare recipients ages 17-21 read, on average, at the sixth grade level. When teens drop out of school, they are likely to drop in to the welfare system.
Almost 50 percent of adults on welfare do not have a high school diploma or GED.

Welfare recipients with low education skills stay on welfare the longest; those with stronger education skills become self-sufficient more quickly.

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Over 60 percent of those who spend more than five years on welfare enter AFDC with less than a high school education.
Over 65 percent of people on welfare who have a high school diploma or GED leave welfare and become self-sufficient within two years.

The education level of welfare recipients is closely linked to their income level.

Adults with low literacy skills earn the least. As literacy skills improve, average weekly wages of welfare recipients increase.
Workers who lack a high school diploma earn a mean monthly income of $452, compared to $1,829 for those with a bachelor's degree.
Among adults with low literacy skills, 43 percent live in poverty and 17 percent receive food stamps. In contrast, among adults with strong literacy skills, fewer than five percent live in poverty and fewer than one percent receive food stamps.
Welfare recipients with low literacy skills work 11 weeks per year, on average, compared to 29 weeks for those with stronger literacy skills.

Helping welfare recipients improve their basic education and literacy skills improves our economic competitiveness.

Ninety percent of Fortune 1000 executives expressed concern in a recent survey that low literacy is hurting their productivity and profitability.
Forty million American adults need to improve their literacy skills. While they can read some basic information, they cannot locate an intersection on a map or read a newspaper article. Until they improve their basic education and literacy skills, these adults cannot effectively compete for today's jobs.