Coupled with being a society with the highest percentage of it's population in prison in the world, this bodes ill. What has buoyed America has been an educated, skilled workforce. These people couldn't make change at a gooey-burger place, and must feel hopeless.

Study: Few English Literacy Programs Meet Workforce Needs

Millions In Los Angeles County Struggle To Read, Write English

POSTED: 5:41 pm PDT September 8, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County has millions of adults who struggle to read and write English -- yet only about one in five enrolls in a literacy program and half of them promptly drop out, according to a study released Wednesday.

Among the findings:

About 3.8 million people 16 or older in the county had "low-literacy" levels, based on 2000 Census data. That included those who, for example, couldn't read a prescription bottle or bus schedule.

About 592,000 adults were enrolled in literacy programs between 2002 and 2003. Of those, 50 percent dropped out after three weeks.

Two-thirds of the programs offered evening classes. None offered classes on weekends.

Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, Pomona and El Monte had the largest populations of people considered "low-literate."