Job Applicants Lack Basic Skills

One in three job applicants who were tested by major U.S. companies in 1995 lacked the reading or math skills to perform the jobs they sought, according to a new survey.

The 33.1 percent failure rate was an improvement over 1994, when 38.5 failed the test, but worse than 1990, when 26.3 percent of job applicants failed basic skills tests, according to the annual survey by the American Management Association.

The overall deficiency rate for the 1990s was 36.3 percent.

More companies are testing before hiring and nearly all said they won’t hire applicants who are deficient in basic skills.