Social Indicators The EU and Social Inclusion

by Atkinson, Tony; Cantillon, Bea; Marlier, Eric; Nolan, Brian; Vandenbroucke, Frank

• ISBN13: 9780199253494
• ISBN10: 0199253498
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The European social agenda is at a crucial stage. This book describes the Action Plans on Social Inclusion submitted to the European Union by national governments in June 2001 and investigates the indicators that can be used to assess social progress. It deals in a new way with key issues for social policy in Europe: poverty, income inequality, non-monetary deprivation, low educational attainment, unemployment, joblessness, poor health, poor housing and homelessness, functional illiteracy and innumeracy.

Author Biography

Tony Atkinson is Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford. Bea Cantillon is Professor and Director of the Centre for Social Policy at the University of Antwerp. Eric Marlier is expert in social statistics and international scientific co-ordinator for Belgian Ministers Vande Lanotte and Vandenbroucke. Brian Nolan is Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin.

Table of Contents

Setting the Scene	1	(18)
Social Indicators	1	(2)
Social Europe	3	(2)
Lisbon and Post-Lisbon	5	(10)
Structure of the Book	15	(4)
Indicators in Principle	19	(25)
Principles of Indicator Construction	20	(6)
Properties of Indicators	26	(11)
Data for Social Indicator Construction	37	(7)
Social Indicators from a Member State Perspective	44	(26)
Belgium	45	(2)
Denmark	47	(1)
Germany	48	(1)
Greece	49	(1)
Spain	50	(1)
France	51	(2)
Ireland	53	(3)
Italy	56	(2)
Luxembourg	58	(1)
Netherlands	59	(2)
Austria	61	(1)
Portugal	61	(1)
Finland	62	(1)
Sweden	63	(2)
United Kingdom	65	(3)
Conclusion	68	(2)
Portfolio of Indicators as a Whole	70	(8)
Structure of the Portfolio of Indicators	70	(2)
Presentation of Indicators	72	(2)
Disaggregation of Indicators	74	(4)
Financial Poverty	78	(32)
The Concept of Poverty	78	(5)
Overview of Existing Methods of Setting the Financial Poverty Line	83	(4)
Evaluation of Different Methods	87	(4)
Examination of Proposed Financial Poverty Indicators	91	(19)
Depth of Poverty and Income Inequality	110	(18)
Persistence of Financial Poverty	110	(4)
Poverty Gaps	114	(4)
Deprivation Indicators	118	(5)
Distribution of Income	123	(5)
Education, Employment, and Unemployment	128	(23)
Low Educational Attainment and Differential Access to Education	129	(6)
Employment and Unemployment	135	(9)
Jobless Households	144	(3)
Working Poor and Low Pay	147	(3)
Within-Country Variations in Unemployment and Employment	150	(1)
Health, Housing, and Wider Dimensions	151	(30)
Health	151	(7)
Housing and Homelessness	158	(7)
Functional Literacy and Numeracy	165	(4)
Access to Essential Services	169	(1)
Financial Precariousness	170	(5)
Social Participation	175	(6)
Coordination at the European Union Level	181	(8)
Use of Indicators in National! Action Plans on Social Inclusion and by the Commission	182	(1)
Policy and National Targets	183	(2)
Development of Indicators and Mobilizing Actors	185	(4)
Executive Summary and List of Recommendations	189	(9)
Synthese et Liste des Recommendations	198	(13)
Members of the Steering Committees	211	(2)
References	213	(16)
Author Index	229	(4)
Subject Index	233