Public Use Files containing individual unit record data in SAS, SPSS and CSV format are available for downloading for each of the countries participating in the Survey of Adult Skills.

In some countries, data protection laws mean that some variables cannot be included in the PUF for that country. This table provides a list of variables that are coded as “missing” in the PUFs, by country.

To access the Australian Public Use File please write to: 
microdata.access@abs.gov.au.

• German PIAAC Scientific Use File and its User Guide. Please note that access to some data is subject to prior authorisation. Please see 'data and documents' tab on the Research Data Center PIAAC at GESIS. 
• U.S. PIAAC Synthetic Restricted Use File for the combined 2012/2014 sample (SAS® / SPSS / Codebook / User Guide). The U.S. PIAAC synthetic restricted use file (S-RUF) is available to researchers outside the U.S. to prepare computer code for the analysis of PIAAC data on the U.S. restricted use file (RUF). The U.S. RUF contains some variables that are not included in the US international PUF. As the data on the S-RUF is synthetic, no conclusions can be drawn from the output generated. Researchers wishing to run analysis on the actual U.S. RUF are able to submit their SAS, SPSS, or Stata code to piaac@air.org.
• Combined 2012/2014 U.S. International PUF (SAS® / SPSS / CSV / Compendium): 
  The combined 2012/2014 U.S. international public use file (PUF) contains data from the internationally comparable sample of adults aged 16-65 from the first and second rounds of PIAAC data collection in the United States and is formatted to conform to the OECD standards. The second round of U.S. PIAAC data collection was conducted from August 2013 through April 2014. The expanded national sample supports more accurate and reliable national estimates for some subgroups. The original 2012 data have been updated, reweighted, and revised with the release of this 2012/2014 dataset, so the updated U.S. dataset should be used for analyses instead of this original 2012 version unless you are seeking to reproduce historic analyses.

Public use microdata files containing data from the International Adult Literacy Skills Survey (IALS) and the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL) can be accessed from Statistics Canada using the following links:

Codebooks

• International codebook
• Derived variables codebook

Compendia

These are sets of tables that provide categorical percentages for both cognitive and background items aiming to support PUF users gaining knowledge of the contents  and checking they are performing PUF analyses correctly.

• Download the data compendia - Background variables (2013 - Round 1)
• Download the data compendia - Background variables (2016 - Round 2)
• Download the data compendia - Background variables (2019 - Round 3)
• Download the data compendia - Background variables (USA) (2019 - Round 3)
• Download the data compendia - Cognitive variables (2013 - Round 1)
• Download the data compendia - Cognitive variables (2016 - Round 2)
• Download the data compendia - Cognitive variables (2019 - Round 3)
• Download the data compendia - Cognitive variables (USA) (2019 - Round 3)