According to new statistics released last week by the US Education Department, more than 1 in 7 American adults lack the most basic skills in understanding written language and basic mathematic calculus. That is to say, well over 14 percent of already-employed individuals in the US cannot even read the newspaper, or prospects on a bottle of pills. Needless to say, such a situation is catastrophic, and the federal government is urged to do something about it as soon as possible.

ProLiteracy CEO and president, David C. Harvey said that "The crisis of adult literacy is getting worse, and investment in education and support programs is critical." The fact that 32 million people cannot read is a terrible tragedy to them, their families, their employers, and the economy as well. Federal estimates place the amount of money spent on damage caused by workers' health issues, and other education-related behavior, at about $60 million per year.

"More than 1 million people lost their jobs in 2008 and the new unemployment figures are the highest in 16 years. A large number of the unemployed are low-skilled individuals who struggle with everyday reading, writing and math tasks. The administration wants to create new jobs with the stimulus packages, but to take advantage of those new positions, these adults need basic literacy skills," Harvey also added.

The data that was made available was recorded in 2003, which makes it the most recent available up to this point. Experts are now worried about the trend of this growth, and wonder if statistics for the years following 2003 are even more serious, or if the trend is diminishing.

Harvey's organization also estimates that some 63 percent of prison inmates have no basic reading skills, not unlike 774 million people worldwide, out of which more than two thirds are women. The global state of affairs is deteriorating with each passing year, and scientists fear that this trend will imply overall reduced productivity in the coming years.