The Digital Divide: Computer Use, Basic Skills and Employment

The context of this comparative study is the rising importance of the use of and access to computers as part of contemporary employability. In turn, computing skills increasingly referred to as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) or ‘digital’ skills, also connect with the basic skills of literacy and numeracy. There are consequently divides between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in relation to digital skills, basic skills and employment. It was these three divides that the study set out to investigate in the North American and British context.