Focusing on the past decade's research, this literature review concentrates on what is known about literacy demands in the workplace and the abilities of various segments of the adult and adolescent population to meet them. The review argues that since a majority of adult reading is performed upon workplace related material, understanding the nature, difficulty, and prevalence of these functional reading tasks is critical for an understanding of the reading demands encountered by adults and their abilities to meet such demands. The review suggests that the quantity and complexity of literacy demands appear to be increasing in most sectors of the workplace and that research has revealed that reading, writing, and computation in the workplace is ubiquitous and at a relatively high level. The review then discusses several studies that show that vocational training literacy demands are even higher than the workplace literacy demands. Citing figures that show generally that literacy skills demands have been increasing, the review examines several basic skills programs that apply a functional literacy approach to teaching, both in the military and in the public/private sector. The review concludes that (1) it is possible to make fairly rapid gains in the ability to comprehend technical material if training is focused on that material; and (2) in the private sector, successful technical and basic skills training programs are beginning to emerge in the vacuum left unfilled by traditional schooling. Thirty-nine references are appended. (MS)