Poor maths skills 'causing financial difficulties'
Many people find themselves in difficult financial circumstances because of their poor maths skills, it has been claimed.According to Richard Marett, chief executive of online education company Whizz.com, many consumers do not understand the concept of interest rates and compound growth when borrowing, which is "an element of basic mathematics".In addition, people can often get a loan and decide to "worry about it tomorrow", which is more to do with poor "emotional management".He concluded: "It's a combination - people bury their head in the sand and, in many cases, they don't understand the full repercussions of borrowing money... and how quickly it can become a problem which spirals out of control."In August's GCSE results, more than four in ten (43.7 per cent) students failed to achieve a grade C or above in maths.Additionally, more than half (51 per cent) of the employers interviewed for the Confederation of British Industry/Pertemps Employment Trends Survey 2008 said they were not happy with school-leavers' basic numeracy skills.
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