About 42 per cent of all Canadian adults are semi-literate, according to the head of Canadian Council on Learning.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which comprises 30 developed countries, runs a standardized test and ranks people according to five categories, based on their ability to read and solve problems.

"If you rank below level 3 in this standardized test, the group OECD considers that that you are not fully productive in the society and economy and that is what we mean by semi-literate," Paul Cappon, the head of Canadian Council on Learning told CTV Newsnet.

Further, only 58 per cent of Canadian adults can read well enough to meet most day-to-day requirements, Cappon told the Toronto Star.

The fledgling federal body, which was created by Ottawa two years ago, is to release Canada's first index of learning this month.

The index, which will be reported in Ottawa on May 15, will also show that only 35 per cent of workers are offered job-related courses every year.

Because education is governed largely by each province, Canada has not implemented a national policy on lifelong learning.

This stands in contrast to many developed countries that are working to develop their national goals on education, whereas provinces in Canada have scarcely started the process.

"I think we need to do much more after people complete school, university or college or whatever their last stage is in formal education because the problem seems to be when we come into the workforce, into our working life, in our community and in our home. It does not seem to be the fault of the school system as such," Cappon said.

"I think that we have to work to create what we call the conditions of learning, rather than think that the schools are going to do it all of that for us," said Cappon.

Cappon said he would like to see employers and employees create options for training programs, particularly for those who do not have a post-secondary education and who are older.

"What we find is that most people with access to training on the job are younger and already have a university or a college diploma," he said.

How Canada helps to educate its citizens will help to determine its global role, Cappon said.

"I think that we need to do something about it because other countries will move ahead and so the ramifications really are for us as individuals but also as a country, if we don't have the kind of levels of literacy we will not be able to talk to each another as a society," Cappon said.

"We will not have what we call social cohesion to the degree we need it and we won't be as innovative and productive as we need to be."