Skills are very important for the economic prosperity of countries. Better skills among employees boost productivity and improve the labour market, making one country more competitive than the others. In cases where the economic output is increased, companies and individuals will get the necessary resources to support the development of these skills.
This interconnection between skills and economic performance has become even more important after the end of the global financial crisis. This is a period when countries are still recovering from that shock and they can definitely use the help of highly-qualified workers. One skill that can make huge difference in the international competitiveness of the United Kingdom is numeracy skills.
According to some of the latest statistics, the UK is becoming less competitive internationally because of the poor numeracy skills in working adults. England is ranked17th while Northern Ireland is ranked 20th in the world when it comes to young people and numeracy skills; the results are worse for the people that are older. According to the same statistics, about 80% of adults in the UK have a low level of numeracy. This is a situation that greatly affects the UK economy – billions of pounds are lost each year as a result of their lack of numeracy skills. Some experts estimate that this loss is equal to £20 billion or about 1.3% of Gross Domestic Product.
The category that is suffering the most is the individuals. They lose more than £8.5 billion because they earn less when they don’t possess proper number skills. The government, on the other hand, loses more than £8 billion and the employers lose £3.2 billion. At the same time, about 70% of UK employers are seriously worried about their employees’ ability to analyze numbers.
These are all serious numbers that must trigger the alarm. Of course, people should not wait only on the government or other formal institutions for help. They must be proactive because, after all, we are talking about their own future. If the UK becomes less competitive than most other countries, the results of these problems will be felt by every citizen. Just like companies in every other developed country, United Kingdom businesses face challenges in implementing complex and changing technologies and only a workforce with good numeric skills will be able to help with this task. The government is urging companies to invest in their existing employees, especially in these skills because, as we have said before, they are the skills of the future.
When it comes to self-improvement, it is good to point out that every individual can help themselves in various ways. Many people are surprised by the effectiveness of Math games. These special games have proven to be very efficient for improving numeracy skills. They are not very complex and they can be played by people regardless of their age, gender and skills they already possess. By playing these games, people can work on their numeracy and invest in the future of our country.
