Culturally weaker individuals: retired people and people who provide unpaid household work
Adults skills are mainly influenced by age and employment status: at older ages skills decrease more for those who have been inactive following past employment in the lowest qualification categories (elementary occupations).
29.2% of retired people between 45 and 65 years of age who performed jobs in skilled categories rank at level 3 or above in the literacy skill scale, while only 8.4% of those who performed jobs in semi-skilled categories and 6.8% of those who perfomed jobs in the elementary categories rank at the same level.
Compared to peers who work in other categories, retired people who worked in skilled categories succeed at maintaining their skills to a larger extent.
Percentage distribution between employed/retired aged 45-65 per complexity of jobs performed in various literacy skill levels
Note: The Skilled Occupations category includes levels 1, 2 and 3 of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08), the Semi-skilled Occupations category includes levels 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (ISCO-08), the Elementary Occupations category includes level 9 (ISCO-08)
When we analyse the performance of respondent women who reported to be carrying out household work at the time of the survey, what mostly impacted clearly appears to be the past work history. A different spread stands out both at the highest and at the lowest levels of the literacy skill scale:
– the percentage of women ranking at level 3 or above on the literacy skill scale is equal to 27% among those who performed a job in the 5 years before the survey, compared to 9% of those who have never worked;
– the percentage of women ranking at level 1 or below on the literacy skill scale is equal to 23% among those who performed a job in the 5 years before the survey, compared to 43% of women who have never had work experience.
Percentage distribution of women who perform household work in various literacy skill levels according to past work experiences
Overview and data processing by Simona Mineo.