Windsor Public Library Adult Literacy Program Workforce Literacy Initiative “ Employment Ontario”

Investing in people and skills is a cornerstone of
the Ontario government’s economic strategy.

Workplace skills generally refer to the basic skills needed by an employee to understand written and verbal communication. These include reading, writing math, communication and problem solving.

Ontario needs a well-trained, highly skilled workforce. This goal is being achieved through historical investments in the colleges, universities and apprenticeship training system, and through landmark agreements with the federal governments.
Many workers will need to upgrade and retrain for new jobs or to get a job. Literacy development may be part of that learning.

The Literacy program can help develop the workplace skills and the literacy skills you need to achieve your goals in order for you to find employment. This initiative helps to ensure learners have the right skills for changing work and life demands. These skills are called “Essential Skills”. Essential Skills are the skills needed for work, learning and life. They provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.

Through extensive research, the Government of Canada and other national and international agencies have identified and validated nine Essential Skills. These skills are used in nearly every occupation and throughout daily life in different ways and at different degrees of difficulty.


There are nine Essential Skills:

  1. Reading Text
  2. Document Use
  3. Numeracy
  4. Writing
  5. Oral Communication
  6. Working with Others
  7. Continuous Learning
  8. Thinking Skills
  9. Computer Use

Specific examples of essential skills include:

  • Reading instructions in a manual
  • Reading a collective agreement
  • Calculating percentages
  • Interpreting WHMIS symbols

For more information about Essential Skills please check out these web sites: