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About 14 per centum of U.S. adults wo n’t be reading this article . Well , okay , most the great unwashed wo n’t read it , devote all the word that are published these days to help us see and navigate the more and more complex world .

But about 1 in 7can’tread it . They’reilliterate .

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Statistics released by the U.S. Education Department this hebdomad show that some 32 million U.S. grownup lack basic prose literacy skill . That means they ca n’t take a newsprint or the instruction on a feeding bottle of pills .

The figures are for 2003 , the up-to-the-minute year available . country and county results areavailable here .

" The crisis of adult literacy is getting bad , and investment in education and keep plan is critical , " said David C. Harvey , chairwoman and CEO of ProLiteracy , in reply to the finding .

Demonstrators attend rally outside National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters to oppose the recent worker firings, in Sliver Spring, Md., on Monday, March 3, 2025.

This is aboutjobs and the thriftiness , Harvey said .

" More than 1 million people lose their Job in 2008 and the new unemployment image are the highest in 16 year , " Harvey said . " A large number of the unemployed are low - skilled individuals who struggle with everyday meter reading , writing and math labor . The administration wants to make new jobs with the stimulus software , but to take advantage of those new place , these adults demand basic literacy skill . "

A freestanding study released last month name Minneapolis and Seattle as themost literate city .

A clock appears from a sea of code.

ProLiteracy , which advertise read computer programme for the deprived and encourages more political science financial backing , estimates that illiteracy costs American businesses more than $ 60 billion each year in lost productivity and health and safety yield . Lack of funding at the Union , state and local levels forbid about 90 percent of the nonreader from pay off help , the organization claims .

ProLiteracy also forecast :

If parents ca n’t read , there ’s a practiced hazard child will be poor readers , the organisation observe .

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