The low skilled adults in Europe represent 15-20 % of the whole population. It depends from how “low skilled”
is defined – normally the indicators are the capabilities to read, write and count (literacy and numeracy), but also
formal qualifications. The Isced-2 definition includes these indicators. This group is represented differently in the
European countries, in some of them representing more than half of the labour force.
In 2008 the activity rate of the total population was 77 % against about 63 % for the Isced-2 group. That means:
that there is a difference of – generally speaking – 14 % employment rate between the better and the less well
educated people. This differs strongly amongst European regions (and according to demographic aspects, the less
educated women are f.e. more often unemployed than the less educated men and the older less educated people are
not as often employed as the younger ones. No wonder that the lower educated people show also a higher rate of
unemployment. In the Isced-2 Segment was (2008) the unemployment rate at 9.8 %, while the average rate was 6 %.