Although the majority of today's young adults meet or surpass the "literacy" standards of 25 years ago, they often lack the level of literacy needed to meet current demands. The National Assessment of Educational Progress studied a nationally representative sample of 3,600 young American adults, aged 21 to 25, to determine how well they could perform real work survival skills. While the overwhelming majority of young adults adequately performs tasks at the lower levels of proficiency, sizable numbers appear unable to do well on tasks of even moderate complexity. Findings included the following: (1) about 80 percent were unable to use a bus schedule; (2) approximately 63 percent could not follow directions using a map; (3) only about 27 percent could interpret a lengthy newspaper feature story; (4) about 28 percent were unable to write a letter protesting a billing error; (5) about 3 percent could not enter personal information on a job application; (6) about 21 percent were unable to locate the gross pay-to-date on a pay stub; (7) about 16 percent had trouble completing an address on an order form; and (8) about 34 percent had difficulty summarizing in writing an argument made in a lengthy newspaper editorial. On average, black young adults performed at levels significantly below white young adults, with Hispanics about midway between the groups. The report concluded that more appropriate intervention and prevention strategies must be developed to remedy these deficits. (KC)