"Algebraic Thinking in Adult Education"
National Institute for Literacy, Algebraic Thinking in Adult Education, Washington, DC 20006
http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/algebra_paper_2010V.pdf

The authors put it bluntly, "Mathematics proficiency is needed to satisfy formal academic requirements for advancement as well as to meet the genuine skill demands of home and work."

Before he retired, the previous principal of the HS where I tutor asked the dean of the local engineering school what he most needed from the HS students. His response: "A mastery of algebra. We can teach them calculus and the rest, but we need them to know algebra when they come through the door."

More from the NIL report:

"Even among those who have finished college and are starting their careers, there is a sobering lack of practical mathematical ability...In fact, 30 percent of students earning two-year degrees and 20 percent of those earning four-year degrees have only basic quantitative literacy skills. These students were unable to complete such tasks as calculating the total cost of office supplies or estimating whether their car has enough gas left to make it to the next gas station."

Here's another view:
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=101298505

Very briefly, he thinks algebra is necessary to use spreadsheets to their full capacity and to do modeling.

Devlin has a very nice blog at:
http://profkeithdevlin.wordpress.com/

I agree with his opinion. Some people think you can just give kids a calculator and that solves the problem. That's silly. I often find kids with fancy, very expensive calculators who 1) don't know how to use them correctly - even for simple functions, and 2) don't know how to tell if they have something approaching a correct answer.