Using the IALSS definitions, the percentage of Ontarians at literacy levels 4 and level 5 is similar to the rest of the country. The province has a larger percentage of its population at level 1 – “At this level, people can read relatively short text, locate and enter a piece of information into that text, and complete simple, one-step tasks such as counting, sorting dates or performing simple arithmetic.” However, it should be noted that only 3.8% of Canadians have extremely limited word reading ability, what the public might consider “illiterate.”

Education is not as good a predictor of literacy levels as one might assume. People at all levels of educational attainment can be found with varying degrees of literacy proficiency. However, the overall trend is that the more education one has, the more likely he/she will possess stronger levels of literacy proficiency.

Canada is a country rich in diversity that attracts a high number of immigrants. While information specific to Ontario is not publicly available, the chart below provides an understanding of the influence of immigration on national literacy levels. In general, Canadian-born adults have stronger skills than do immigrants. Immigrants, both recent and long-term, comprise most of those who scored at level 1. While over 60% of Canadian-born are at level 3 or higher, only approximately 30% of immigrants are at that level.

The largest percentage of Canadian-born and recent immigrants fall into level 3, although recent immigrants do have larger a percentage of their population at levels 1 and 2 than do Canadian-born. Established immigrants have lower levels of literacy. This may reflect the lack of language and literacy training available to new Canadians, the immigration policy in force more than 10 years ago, or the status of older and/or female immigrants who generally lack access to training.

The chart below shows that level 1 and level 2 are primarily comprised of those who are unemployed or not in the labour force. This is what one would expect. However, it is also interesting to note the number of people who are employed whose literacy level is at these lower two levels. And while it is generally accepted that higher levels of literacy bring employment, in Ontario, 67% of those at level 3 are either not in the labour force or are unemployed, while 30% of those at level 4/5 are either not in the labour force or are unemployed.

*The following statistics are taken from OLC’s publication Literacy in Ontario, OLC, 2009