Measuring Disadvantage, Inequality
and Social Inclusion
Patricia Faulkner
Chair, Australian Social Inclusion Board
NatStats 2010 - 17 September 2010
Presentation overview
• What is social inclusion?
• Importance of data
• a measurement and reporting framework of social inclusion
• How we fare
• within Australia and international comparisons
• What could we do with better information?
• to help understand our priority areas
A socially inclusive society is one where all individuals
have the capabilities, opportunities, responsibilities and
resources to participate fully in Australian life
Responsibility
A small but significant
proportion of Australians are
highly disadvantaged
Participation
Opportunity
Resources
Capability
Resources
(Individual, Family
and Community)
Adopting a structured
agenda will help to shape
responsive policy
An effective social inclusion
agenda uses a range of initiatives to:
• develop people’s underlying
resources
• address resource gaps
• provide opportunities
• increase capabilities
• encourage participation
o to learn, work, engage, have a
voice
• invest in support systems & reform
• measure and evaluate progress
The Commonwealth government focus is on six
priority areas
Targeting
jobless
families with
children to
increase work
opportunities,
improve
parenting and
build capacity
Improving the
life chances of
children at
greatest risk
of long term
disadvantage
Reducing the
incidence of
homelessness
Improving
outcomes for
people living
with
disability or
mental
illness and
their carers
Closing the
gap for
Indigenous
Australians
Breaking the
cycle of
entrenched
and multiple
disadvantage in
particular
neighbourhoods
Evidence is important to inform policy
development
One of the core principles of social inclusion is the importance of
evidence and integrated data to inform policy:
– It will also be important for government to report regularly on
progress in social inclusion, using clear indicators and reporting from
the perspective of the individual, the family, the neighbourhood or the
community affected. Indicators should be responsive to effective
policy interventions and identify the essence of the problem and
have a clear and accepted interpretation.
– National policy reforms are based on effective cross-government
collaboration and depend upon strengthened measurement,
reporting and accountability arrangements.
See: Principles for Social Inclusion – everyone’s job
Social Inclusion Indicator Framework - Overview
Aspirations
Headline and supplementary
indicators
o
o
Headline and Supplementary
Indicators
o
Priority Areas for Action
Strategic change indicators
o
o
o
Strategic Change Indicators
Source: Social Inclusion in Australia: How Australia
is Faring
Relatively small number of outcome
indicators
Monitor important social inclusion
issues or identify particular at-risk
population groups
Supplementary indicators support
the headlines and provide further
detail
Leading indicators of potential
progress
Show areas of government policy
intervention which are expected to
influence social inclusion outcomes
Risk or protective factors,
intermediate outcomes, or outputs of
government programs aimed at
addressing social exclusion
The framework provides the basis to tell a story about
social inclusion in Australia and how it is changing
At risk population groups
Aboriginal and
Torres Strait
Islander
peoples
Jobless
families
with
children
Long-term
unemployed
Homeless
People with
disability or
mental illness
Locations of
concentrated
disadvantage
Participation
Work
Learn
Engage
Have a voice
Resources
Material/economic resources
Health and disability
Education and skills
Social resources
Community and institutional
resources
Housing
Personal safety
Multiple and entrenched
disadvantage
The indicator framework has headline
indicators for aspects of participation
(work, learn, engage and have a voice)
and underlying resources which can be
analysed for selected population groups,
especially at-risk population groups
And other
population
groups
The Commonwealth Government will be held
accountable through regular reporting
•
Baseline report
o Released by the Board in January 2010 - Social Inclusion in Australia: How
Australia is Faring
o In May 2009, the Board released an international comparison report – Compendium
of Social Inclusion Indicators
•
Major reports on outcomes
o Next in 2012 and then four-yearly following release of ABS General Social Survey
•
Progress reports
o Commonwealth agencies will report on strategic change indicators and agency
initiatives designed to improve social inclusion outcomes in their departmental
annual reports
•
Evaluation and analysis
o Evaluation studies and analysis projects to understand whether programs and
services designed to improve social inclusion are effective, and particular issues
such as breaking the cycle of disadvantage.
How are we faring?
Source: Social inclusion in Australia: How Australia is faring, 2010
Disadvantage in one respect can lead to disadvantage
in others and concentrate in particular locations
People living in low income
households:
•
Have poorer health
–
•
•
•
33% of people in the lowest income quintile
compared to 85% in the highest quintile
Are less likely to attend community events
–
Have higher proportions of children who
were developmentally vulnerable
–
•
–
52% of people in the lowest income quintile
compared to 75% in the highest quintile
•
on two or more domains of the Australian
Early Development Index (AEDI)
Have lower levels of employment
10% of people in the lowest income quintile
compared to 1% in the highest quintile
Are less likely to have access to the internet
at home
–
•
35% of people in the lowest income quintile
reported fair or poor health compared to 7% in
the highest quintile
Are more likely to have difficulty accessing
transport
–
Areas with lower socio-economic
status:
In 2006, 49% of people living in the most
disadvantaged regions were employed,
compared with 74% of those in the least
disadvantaged regions
Have lower levels of participation in
community activities
–
In 2006, 60% of those living in the most
disadvantaged regions participated in at least
one community group, compared with 81% of
those in the least disadvantaged regions
Source: Social inclusion in Australia: How Australia is faring, 2010
In an ideal world we would have ready access to
complete information to evaluate policies and programs
• Linked service and
outcomes
• In real time
• For the whole population
including rare pop groups
• For small areas
Ideal information
Improved
evaluation and
understanding
• Program evaluation
• Understanding
pathways
• What works, what
doesn’t
• Targeting assistance to
those in greatest need
• Breaking down cycles
• Overcoming
disadvantage
• Ultimately, everyone
having the resources,
opportunities,
capabilities to participate
fully in economic , social
and civic life
Improved
outcomes
We still need...
•
Summary measures of social inclusion
o A very small set of indicators that can summarise social inclusion
o Barometer of change to capture the attention of the public
•
Detail for small population groups
o For example, outcomes for refugee and humanitarian migrants, or people with
mental illness
•
Community indicators
o To understand their local conditions and hold governments accountable
o To help more targeted service delivery
•
Linked data
o
o
o
o
Value data as an asset
Maximise use of information
Improve quality of the information resources
Administrative, as well as survey and Census data
Linked administrative data has great potential to inform the social
inclusion agenda
Proposal: Linking data on education pathways
and outcomes for Australian students
Source:
Improved homelessness data to measure
progress toward targets
The National Homelessness Research Agenda sets out the priorities for
research that will contribute to the whole-of-government response to
homelessness.
The research effort will complement data improvements in progress at
Commonwealth and State/Territory levels.
In addressing research gaps, the Agenda seeks to build a robust and reliable
evidence base that identifies the:
•
Extent and nature of homelessness for disadvantaged groups
•
Pathways in and out of homelessness
•
Effective ways of responding to homelessness
Australia needs to invest in improving the
National Statistical system
Australia is a rich country...
but some Australians are missing out
•
Some people face a number of barriers, so they start a step behind
•
One form of disadvantage will often lead to further disadvantages
•
Disadvantage tends to concentrate in particular neighbourhoods
•
Barriers to participation have implications for individuals and families over the long
term and can often be bequeathed to the next generation
We need to:
•
Invest in improving the National Statistical System
•
Value data as a strategic resource and asset
•
Improve the quality of, and access to, administrative data for
research purposes
Questions?
Multiple disadvantage is of particular concern
A small but significant number of Australians have multiple
disadvantages.
Analysis by the Social Inclusion Unit of the 2006 ABS General Social
Survey found that 5% of persons aged 18-64 years had 3 or more
disadvantages
based disadvantages:
on 6 factors across 3 domains:
Proportions
with multiple
0
67.1%
62.3%
1
20.1%
22.9%
2
9.5%
7.7%
3
3.6%
3.2%
4
1.4%
1.4%
5
0.4%
0.3%
6
0.03%
Incidence of selected types of disadvantage:
Incidence:
Domain:
Factor:
Economic
Low income and
material deprivation 6.5%
Low work (in jobless
11.5%
household)
5.4%
have
or more Human
5% have
3 or3more
disadvantages
disadvantages
Social
Source: Social inclusion in Australia: How Australia is faring, 2010
Low health
12.6%
Low education
9.6%
Low safety
6.6%
Low support
6.2%
Work on measurement and reporting
continues...
Over the next 6 months:
•
Further work on the indicator framework will be completed
•
A data development strategy to improve the availability of data for each of the
indicators by population sub-groups will be drafted.
... and the evidence base continues to improve
•
•
•
•
New COAG reporting initiatives are helping to improve the availability of
data in a number of areas
Changes to the ABS General Social Survey to increase sample of people
from relatively disadvantages areas
Improvements in administrative data sources
Evaluation studies of trials of new approaches