The Social Report: Monitoring Social Wellbeing in New Zealand

Purpose of The Social Report “to provide information on the overall social health and well-being of our society” Transparency – balance and complement existing economic and fiscal monitoring Accountability – to allow us to monitor how New Zealand is performing over time and compared to other countries Issue identification – to help identify areas where action is required or that warrant further investigation The Social Report

Purpose of The Social Report Cross-sectoral Outcome focused Comprises: An Outcomes Framework Social Indicators to monitor progress The Social Report

Outcomes Framework Well-being has no single metric on which it can be measured comparable to GDP: “Life satisfaction” or “happiness” measures are useful at an aggregate level, but do not tell us much without additional information One number indexes such as the Human Development Index or the Genuine Progress Indicator require much stronger and more contentious value judgements Need for a framework against which to measure social well-being The Social Report

Outcomes Framework The Social Report Outcome domains for The Social Report 2007 are: Health Knowledge and Skills Paid Work Economic Standard of Living Civil and Political Rights Cultural Identity Leisure and Recreation Physical Environment Safety Social Connectedness

Indicators “Social indicators are statistics used to measure social wellbeing and monitor trends in wellbeing over time” Clear normative interpretation Indicate rather than describe Must be timely The Social Report

Indicators The Social Report Paid Work Desired outcome statementIndicators Everybody has access to meaningful, rewarding and safe employment. An appropriate balance is maintained between paid work and other aspects of life. 11.Unemployment 12.Employment 13.Median hourly earnings 14.Workplace injury claims 15.Satisfaction with work-life balance

Indicators 42 indicators in total for The Social Report have time series from mid-80s and another 8 have time series from the mid-90s For 7 indicators we have no time series 15 indicators can be used for OECD comparisons and another 4 have alternative OECD comparable measures 2 have no clear normative interpretation The Social Report

Comparability We can present a fairly good overview of current wellbeing… …although there are some notable gaps Cultural Identity Leisure and Recreation Physical Environment Safety However, we are much more limited with regard to international comparisons The Social Report

Wellbeing and Sustainability The Social Report provides a good overview of how we are doing now… …but our current wellbeing can be at the expense of our future wellbeing if we draw down on our capital stocks by consuming at a faster rate than those stocks can recover To interpret the Social Report therefore, we really need to know the state of the capital stocks that underpin our current welfare The Social Report