NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ¿ Americans aged 15 to 24 on average spend two hours a day watching TV and only seven minutes on leisure reading, reducing their chances for high-paying jobs and community service, according to a report by the National Endowment for the Arts. Sixty-one percent of those holding managerial or professional jobs were proficient readers, said the report, citing a 2003 US Education Department survey. Some 70 percent of the people rated as poor readers felt their lack of skills had limited their job opportunities.

The number of adults who read should be increased to improve both the quality of their lives and the future of their children, said Dana Gioia, chairman of the arts endowment, which compiled the report from studies conducted by the Education Department, the American Association of School Librarians and Statistics Canada.

"Is this a cultural apocalypse? No," said Gioia, a 56- year-old poet and literary critic, said. "There are still a substantial number of people in the US who read and read well." The National Endowment for the Arts was created by Congress in 1965 to support artistic excellence.