Identifying literacy and numeracy skill mismatch in OECD countries using the job analysis method

Abstract The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is currently the most important data source that provides information on the key skills possessed by workers, including literacy and numeracy. However, to assess skill mismatch, we also need information on the required skills in those domains, measured in the same metric and scale. In this article, we use the Job Analysis Method (JAM) to determine the required skill levels of literacy and numeracy for all four-digit International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) 2008 unit groups. JAM is often considered the ‘gold standard’ in estimating required levels but has never been used in the context of PIAAC. This article thus presents the first results on the prevalence of skill mismatches using JAM comparing different OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries and different occupations. We compare our results with alternative methods and show some advantages of using JAM. We discuss some of the limitations as well.