National Celebrations Headline Essential Skills Day 2016

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - September 30, 2016) - Friday, September 30, 2016 marks Canada's seventh annual Essential Skills Day. Initiated by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 2010, Essential Skills Day raises awareness about the importance of workplace literacy and essential skills training. The 9 Essential Skills, recognized by the Government of Canada, are the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.

The nine essential skills, used by employees in every job are:

• Reading Text

• Writing

• Numeracy

• Document Use

• Oral Communication

• Working with Others

• Computer Use

• Thinking Skills

• Continuous Learning

"Strong essential skills are critical to every Canadian and we want all employers and employees to recognize that," said Gillian Mason, President of ABC Life Literacy Canada. "Workplace essential skills training provides proven solutions for adapting to changes in business, health and safety concerns, errors and waste, incorrect paperwork and communications, teamwork and leadership needs. Through investment in literacy and essential skills training we can begin to close the skills gap and accelerate success in other training areas."

Essential skills, which include reading and writing, are the foundation for all learning. In our technology-rich society, businesses increasingly require employees to have strong literacy, numeracy and essential skills. In fact, most on-the-job training requires these foundational skills to be in place, so that job-specific technical skills can stick. Yet almost half of Canadians are ill equipped to adapt to rapidly changing work environments because their literacy and essential skills are not strong enough to support new training.

A social media campaign, #The9atWork and #ESD2016, challenges Canadians to share on Twitter how they use one or more of the essential skills at work.

Visit www.EssentialSkillsDay.ca for information, resources and tools to help make essential skills training a priority in workplaces across Canada.

Attributed Media Statements:

"The reality is that many businesses don't fully appreciate how impactful essential skills are in terms of the productivity of their workforce. For Canadians to flourish and for our economy to be competitive, we need a highly skilled workforce with strong essential skills."

Craig Alexander, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist, Conference Board of Canada

"Essential skills are important today because they help drive the true potential in your workforce. Essential skills training leads to better productivity because it is the foundation of all the training that follows."

Scott McNeil-Smith, President, Canadian Manufacturing Network

Director, Strategic Planning and Communications, Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium

About ABC Life Literacy Canada:

ABC Life Literacy Canada is a non-profit organization that inspires Canadians to increase their literacy skills. We mobilize business, government and communities to support lifelong learning and achieve our goals through leadership in programs, communications and partnerships. ABC Life Literacy Canada envisions a Canada where everyone has the skills they need to live a fully engaged life. For the latest news and information on adult literacy please visit www.abclifeliteracy.ca, follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook page.