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This paper is part of a project entitled 'The expression, experience and transcendence of low skills in Aotearoa New Zealand', which aims to provide policy recommendations to improve life-course trajectories and socio-economic outcomes of adults living with low literacy and/or numeracy (L+N) skills.

The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive portrait of the population living with low literacy and/or numeracy (L/N) skills in New Zealand (NZ). Prior literature argues that 'low basic skills levels of adults are a complex policy problem' that does not have 'straightforward solutions'. This paper aims to provide the baseline with which to understand the complex nature and landscape of low L/N skills in NZ. The analysis links survey data from the 2014/2015 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) with administrative data sources in Stats NZ's Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The goal is a better understanding of: (1) the population of interest; (2) their demographic, individual and household, labour market, health and justice characteristics; (3) how their characteristics in these domains compare to those who are not low L/N; and (4) how these portraits vary when disaggregated by age or by ethnicity.

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