National Education Goal 5 states that by the year 2000, every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. To date, education reform has focused on international competition and the need for a skilled work force in order to compete without lowering the U.S. standard of living. However, there has been no research that shows that the skills of U.S. workers are actually lower than those of workers in other countries or, if they are, what difference it makes in this country's ability to compete. Research is proposed to find out what is needed to be known to compare skills. That research would include a definition of basic literacy; the amount of occupation-specific skills possessed by the U.S. work force and how they compare to those of other nations' workers; workers' values, beliefs, and attitudes; workers' opportunity to develop skills; how work is organized; and what difference skills make and why. Data for this research could be reported for the first time in fall 1992, providing a baseline for the trend data in future reports. In future years, the United States could use several major international studies currently being organized and sponsored by organizations such as the World Bank, the Educational Testing Service, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The United States could also stage a research program for the next 3-5 years to answer questions about workers' skills and their effect on economic productivity. A budget for such a research program would be about $1 million per year. (KC)