Literacy rates need to be improved if better economic balance is to be achieved. High Literacy rates are important enough, but digital literacy is also crucial in an information society, and people need to be literate before they can be digitally literate. One example of the need for digital literacy is the irresponsible use of cell phones. Cell phones are not toys, yet some people use them to reach out to emergency services a lot more often than necessary. This places stress on resources and has other effects - it makes the workers' jobs more stressful. Hence qualified individuals may not be interested in the positions, and the application pool is reduced.

An educated workforce is necessary to compete in a global economy, and education spending should be given a top priority. Education levels are correlated to productivity, entrepreneurship, societal functionality, economic equality, income, safety, etc. And, a more economically balanced society is healthier for everyone in several ways.

An education system can be dysfunctional. For example, in the days of slavery, slaves were kept uneducated in order to keep them down. Several employment application assessments test for verbal and quantitative literacy. Are some companies trying to screen out the illiterate or are they seeking them out? Illiteracy is a weakness.