1. Public policy and European society University of Castellanza
Session 3(b)
Poverty and social exclusion
March

2. Poverty rates in the EU 2003
At risk of poverty rate by country 2003; ‘at risk’ of live in households where household income ‘is below 60% of the national equivalised income.
Source: Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2006; data from Eurostat.

3. ‘At risk thresholds’ EU 25 2005
Illustrative values for a household of two adults with two dependent children (under 14); threshold is 60% of the median income in the specific Member State

4. National or European standards?
The median income in Romania is far less than the poverty threshold in most EU states
Source: Fahey (2007) using 2001 EU indicators

5. National or European standards?
Taking those with less than one third of average income in EU as in extreme poverty
For total population of EU15 (1997)
Total 2.7%
Luxembourg 0.4%
France 2.1%
Greece 9.4%
EU22 (EU25 less Latvia, Lithuanian and Slovakia)
France 1.9%
Poland 34.6%
Estonia 51.8%
EU27
France 1.8%
Bulgaria 63.6%
Source Schmitter & Bauer (2001)

6. Other poverty measures
Objective
Material deprivation
Cannot afford to: keep house warm, have holidays once a year; replace old furniture, new clothes; eat fish or meat every other day; have friends/family to dinner once a week (2 or more of 6)
Housing defects
Shortage of space, rot in windows/doors, damp/leaks, no indoor toilet (2 or more from 4)
Financial problems
In arrears with utility bills in last month; could not pay for food at any time in last year (1 of 2)
Subjective
Subjective economic strain
How easy to make ends meet (scale 1 to 6) (5 or higher)
Satisfaction with standard of living
(scale 1 to 10 – 1 very dissatisfied) (score 5 or lower)
Global life satisfaction
Overall satisfaction with life (1 very dissatisfied) (score 5 or lower)
From Fahey (2007)

7. An EU wide poverty measure?
In the poorest 6 EU member states (2006) 45% of those in the top income quartile lacked 2 or more material items; in the richest 12 even in the poorest income quartile only 37% did.
From Fahey (2007)

8. Europe 2020 European Platform Against Poverty
Aim to lift 20 million people out of poverty!
But what does this actually mean…?

9. Poverty in Europe2020 (1) At risk of poverty (2) Material deprivation
Percentage below national poverty threshold 60% of national median income
(2) Material deprivation
Number lacking 3 or more items on material deprivation index
(3) Work poor’ households
Number of households where total amount of hours worked in less than 10 (?) per adult member
So (1) is specific to each member state; (2) and (3) apply across EU.

10. New welfare state? New demands New risks New state Criticism
Choice - those who have least choice are usually poorest
Empowerment Potentially these can drive up standards and above all reduce ‘capture’ of welfare systems and services by providers (e.g. education, health, social work…)
Recognition of diversity and lifestyle change (e.g. family form)
New risks
Growing changes over life course, especially but not only in employment, often unpredictable
New state
From remedial to enabling (e.g. Life Long Learning)
From passive to active support (e.g. Active Labour Market Policies)
Reconciliation of social diversity with social solidarity (Rights and duties)
Criticism
Risks under-estimating growing income inequality and poverty (e.g. new ‘working poor’ in Germany)
Undermines public ethos in state services
New risks are exaggerated, old risks remain important
Conclusion
Traditional welfare state remains crucial: and the defining feature of Europe today