The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Korean adult basic skills and gender, age, and lifelong learning. Data on 5,506 Korean adults was collected through ALL(Adult Literacy and Life Skills) survey led by OECD and Statistics Canada. People who are more educated, engaged in the more knowledge-intensive occupations, and utilizing skills actively in the workplace and daily life tend to have higher basic skills. Although lifelong learning had no direct impact on basic skills, it showed indirect effect by strongly influencing the utilization of skills at workplace and everyday life.
Through examination of various indicators, this study showed that disadvantaged groups are faced with unfavourable circumstances in developing and sustaining skills. People with relatively low education levels and the aged tend not to participate in lifelong learning and tend to have less opportunity to apply basic skills. They have relatively low possibilities to improve their skills through learning, and the gap in skills level tend to be widen over time.