Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Hans Steiner Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection Political Relevance of EU-Social Indicators

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Political Relevance of EU-Social Indicators Importance of Social Policy in the EU Role of indicators in the EU-Social policy field Political relevance of the risk of poverty indicator Suggestions

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Importance of Social Policy in the EU No main policy area in the EU More importance during last 15 years, but core activities in the competence of member states Soft policy instrument: „Open method of coordination“ Vague common social objectives

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 O M C Vague objectives in the 4 strands -Overarching issues: 1) social cohesion, 2) better interaction with other policy fields, 3) good governance -Social Inclusion: 1) promoting labour market participation, 2) enabling access to basis resources, 3) better coordination and more involvement of actors -Pensions: acccess, adequacy and sustainability -Health and long term care: access, high quality and sustainability

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Role of indicators in the EU-Social Policy field To give more substance to the common objectives of the OMC Indicators are no targets Indicators enable a standardised reporting

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Role of indicators in the EU-Social Policy field Rules for the selection of the portfolio of indicators in the 4 strands -Cover all key dimensions of the objectives -Be balanced across the dimensions -Enable a country assessment in relation to the objectives

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Role of indicators in the EU-Social Policy field Different types of indicators -Commonly agreed EU indicators and national indicators -Primary and secondary indicators -Out-put indicators -Context indicators

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Role of indicators in the EU-Social Policy field Indicators in the strand „Overarching Issues“ -Risk of poverty rate -Intensity of poverty risk -In-work poverty risk -At risk of poverty rate anchored at a fixed moment in time -Income inequality: 80 / 20 -People in jobless households -Employment rate of older workers -Activity rate -Regional variation on employment rates -Healthy life expectancy -Self reported unmet need for medical care -Per capita health expenditure -Median relative income of elderly people -Aggregate replacement ratio of pensions -Early school leavers -Projected public social expenditure

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Role of indicators in the EU-Social Policy field Indicators in the Strand „Social Inclusion“ -At risk of poverty rate and threshold values -Persistent at risk of poverty rate -Intensity of poverty risk -Long term unemployment rate -People in jobless households -Employment gap of immigrants -Early school leavers -Material deprivation rate -Self reported unmet need for medical care -Housing (not decided yet) -Child well-being (not decided yet)

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Political relevance of the risk of poverty indicator Arguments in favour of this indicator -Reflects the groups with far less chances -Poverty threshold complies with the view of the population on a decent minimum income -Eradication of income poverty is affordable

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Political relevance of the risk of poverty indicator So why political doubts about this indicator? -Constant poverty rate despite considerable improvements of living conditions up to the crisis -The crisis might lead to a decrease of the poverty rate -This indicator might favour policies with problematic results -The indicator is based on the assumption of similar minimum needs -A comparison of the poverty threshold and minimum income schemes is tricky -What private costs poor people have to bear to afford elementary goods and services -Significance of international comparisons is restricted

Hans Steiner Conference on Indicators, February 2010 Suggestions An indicator expressing the multidimensional character of poverty An indicator for accessibility An indicator for adequacy More empirial information about different needs