Attention has been focused on whether U.S. competitiveness in a global market can be sustained if the work force has deficient reading skills. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 90 million adults (50 percent of the adult population) do not have the literacy skills they need to function in society. These persons have limited reading skills and are unable to perform simple tasks. Another 40-44 million adults are thought to be functionally illiterate; that is, they fall short of mastery levels in reading and mathematics. A research study focused on answering the following question: Do employees within a given work force demonstrate limited reading skills? Reading comprehension and vocabulary skills were examined using the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) with a sample population of 106 employees from a manufacturing company in Dallas, Texas. The findings of the study do not confirm national statistics. The results indicated that the overall reading level exceeds the national average, with the majority of the sample group performing about the 12th-grade level in both reading areas evaluated. Only about 6 percent of the work force scored at the eighth-grade level or below and might benefit from continuing education programs at a higher level than basic literacy. (Contains 12 references.) (KC)