Main Areas to Consider: My Expectations

• Business & Industry
• personal employment vs. unemployment
• (relates to Social Service section, regarding $ for unemployment benefits)
• personal wage earning
• increased taxes from higher salaries can be used to improve/benefit other parts of society
• company productivity/profit
• the need for skilled workers, especially for big corporations moving their headquarters to SC that may need 3000+ skilled workers all at once
• how much does increase literacy increase worker productivity, and therefore company profit?
• banking industry
• people living in poverty are much less likely to have a checking or savings account, let alone make investments
• when people have savings to invest, the banks then lend that money out to others, which stimulates the economy by helping people start new businesses, purchase homes, undergo renovation projects on current homes (which in turn stimulates the economy further because they pay local companies to perform the work, etc.)
• Crime & Punishment
• people with low literacy skills and low educational attainment are more likely to commit crimes and end up in prison, as well as be repeat offenders and return to prison multiple times
• what is the public cost of taking someone through the justice system? (court costs for trials, and the cost of supporting an imate per year--multiply this cost by the average number of times low-literacy criminals are likely to return to jail--cost of recidivism)
• Cost of providing increase police protection to high crime areas
• Money lost due to theft
• Health
• are low-literacy individuals more likely to be unhealthy than better educated individuals?
• unhealthy food choices are often less expensive than fresh, healthy ones
• relates to Social Services section: Might rely on SNAP/food stamps
• are low-literacy individuals less likely to have health insurance coverage
• relates to Business section: being unemployed or working in low-skilled, hourly positions means you're less likely to have insurance provided by your employer. And, if you are living in poverty, you likely don't have the money to pay for your own individual plan.
• relates to Social Services section: if not covered by employer-provided or independent health insurance, might rely on public health programs like Medicaid
• trouble reading prescription information or following complex doctor-given directions results in more trips to hospital due to medical mix ups and lack of proper care
• personal costs of bad health (out of pocket expenses)
• public costs of bad health (picking up the slack)
• cost to health care system of people coming straight to the emergency room because they don't have health insurance
• how much money do the hospitals "write off" to treat uninsured patients in the ER?
• Social Services
• Medicaid
• SNAP/food stamps
• Family Assistance
• ABC Child Care Program