Counting on the recovery

Basic numeracy skills play a critical role in our day-to-day lives – helping people to understand household budgets, compare the cost of products and services, and understand vital information such as payslips. Yet, with OECD data suggesting that just 43% of the working age adult population in England meet the basic level of numeracy skills expected of a 9-11 year-old – and 40% in Northern Ireland - the nations of the UK are behind many other developed countries.

This has material impacts at the individual level, with lower numeracy skills associated with lower wages, higher risks of unemployment, worse health outcomes and poorer financial literacy.

This event gives a sneak peek of Counting on the recovery: the role for numeracy skills in “levelling-up” the UK, a new report by Pro Bono Economics in partnership with charity National Numeracy and KPMG.

The new research investigates the impact of low numeracy skills on the UK’s workforce and business as the Covid pandemic sees unemployment levels hit a four-year high.

Jon Franklin, Chief Economist of Pro Bono Economics, Sam Sims, Chief Executive of National Numeracy and Claire Warnes, Head of Education, Skills and Productivity at KMPG will discuss and take questions on the implications of the findings, which include sector and regional analysis and insight, chaired by former BBC journalist and National Numeracy trustee Wendy Jones.