The report, Workers in Declining Industries: Literacy’s Role in Worker Transitions, examined the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data and determined that literacy deficiencies are the critical barrier that prevents workers in declining occupations from adapting to the demands of high?growth occupations. The report suggests that using O*NET data organized around literacy requirements of both declining and high-growth occupations is one way local area planners can affect the structural causes for unemployment by attracting industries that minimize the retraining needed by dislocated workers.

Other reports developed using the 2003 NAAL data include: