THE NUMBER of inquiries to the National Adult Literacy Agency (Nala) rose by almost a quarter in the past six months with the majority of queries coming from men.
People who have recently lost their jobs in the recession, particularly in the building trade, feature strongly.
The agency received 4,759 calls between January and June 2009, a 23 per cent increase on the previous six-month period when 3,867 calls were recorded, according to figures released by Nala.
Significantly more men than women are now contacting the agency.
Almost two-thirds of callers to the Nala’s freephone number so far in 2009 were male. In 2008 just 52 per cent of calls taken by the agency were from men.
Director Inez Bailey said that the figures were reflective of changes in the economic climate. She said that the indications were that many of those contacting Nala had previously worked in the construction industry.
“Anecdotally we are finding that a lot of people are coming out of construction,” Ms Bailey said.
“There has been a marked increase in the number of people contacting us, especially amongst men and young men,” she said, adding that, while the agency had seen an increase in across the board, there had been a particular spike in the number of men in the 25 to 35 age group.
“Some are worried about their job prospects while others have recently been made unemployed.”
Ms Bailey said that it was vital that people with low literacy skills received support as they faced a greater risk of long-term unemployment.
“There has been a wow factor around people with high skill sets who have lost their jobs as a result of the recession but the highest number of those affected is still those with the lowest level of educational attainment.”
According to Nala 30 per cent of the Irish workforce have either a Junior Certificate or a lower education level; 10 per cent have no primary level or former qualifications; and 25 per cent of adults lack “very basic” literacy and numeracy skills.
Ms Bailey said that there was often a gap between the level of education which people have reached through formal schooling and the basic level of ability needed to undertake higher-education and training courses.
Resource worker with the Youghal Adult Learning Group Cathy O’Mahony noted that there had been a significant increase in the numbers of men who had been made redundant contacting the centre in recent months.
“We are getting a lot of calls from people who are being made redundant. Most of those who have lost their jobs would have worked in the construction industry,” she said.
“People aren’t getting jobs as easily so they are updating their skills.”