East Texas Literacy Council

American business currently spends more than $60 billion each year on employee training, much of that for remedial reading, writing, and mathematics. (ProLiteracy Worldwide)

Workers 18 and over with a bachelor's degree earn an average of $51,206 a year, while those with a high school diploma earn $27,915; those without a high school diploma average $18,734.  (U.S. Census Bureau)

Annual health care costs in the U.S. are four times higher for individuals with low literacy skills than they are for individuals with high level literacy skills. (ProLiteracy Worldwide)

There are 3.8 million adults in Texas without a high school diploma. (Texas LEARNS)

Medication errors -- many as the result of misread or misunderstood prescription labels -- are the most common medical mistakes causing up to 7,000 deaths each year. (American Medical Association)

Women in the U.S. who have little formal education are more likely than educated women to be in abusive relationships. (ProLiteracy Worldwide)

Literacy programs in Texas are only serving 3.6% of the 3.8 million in need of adult basic education services. (Texas LEARNS, April 2005)

A one percent increase in high school graduation rates would save approximately $1.4 billion in costs associated with incarceration. (ProLiteracy Worldwide)

A higher percentage of men (by a margin of 4 percentage points) than women have Below Basic health literacy. (National Assessment of Adult Literacy 2003)

The health care industry estimates $73 billion per year of unnecessary health care expenses attributable to poor literacy. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Statistics)