OECD
World
Forum
onon
Key
Indicators
OECD
World
Forum
Key
Indicators
Statistics,
Statistics,Knowledge
Knowledgeand
andPolicy
Policy
Palermo,
10-13
November
2004
Palermo,
10-13
November
2004
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
1
Social inclusion – do we have
the right indicators?
Bjørn Hvinden
Professor, NTNU (Norway)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
2
What is a social indicator?
• A piece of statistical information throwing light on
an important social phenomenon in a simple and
compact way
• Should give decision-makers, journalists, and
the general public an idea about the state or
change in this phenomenon, and allow for
comparisons, e.g. cross-nationally
• Should be readily available, updated regularly,
and easy to understand for others than technical
specialists
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
3
Which indicators are provided?
• Considerations affecting number & kind of
indicators:
- Costs and availability – a preference for
statistical information based on administrative
registers, rather than survey-based information?
Versus
- Ideas about the nature of the phenomenon in
question – necessary with ’proxies’?
• Unhappy compromises between the ideally
desirable and the economically and technically
most feasible?
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
4
Illustration: persistent poverty as indicator of social exclusion
• Persistent poverty is often treated as indicator of
social exclusion in Europe
• Durable low income is seen as a key aspect of
social exclusion, or at least strongly associated
with social exclusion
• But one may also ask whether persistent poverty
is used because statistical data about incomes
are readily available
• If so, there could be other aspects, causes or
consequences of exclusion which are given less
attention
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
5
Quantity versus relevance of indicators
• With access to registers with population
statistics, many indicators may be produced at
limited costs
• Information overload and actual under-use?
• Few key indicators most desirable?
• A guarded yes; important social phenomena are
complex or ambiguous
• Essential information may be lost with only one
indicator for these
• Complementary pairs of indicators are called for!
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
6
Illustrations of the need for complementary indicators
• Gender equality in employment:
- Gap between employment rates for women
and men
- Gap between hours worked per week by
women and men
• Economic exclusion of disadvantaged
groups:
- Recipiency rates for (particular) income
maintenance benefits (e.g. disability benefits)
- Inactivity rates for the group in question (e.g.
people with impairments)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
7
What should indicators of social inclusion capture?
• To be socially included: to participate in important
social arenas, be part of significant social relationships
and through this, able to live a full human life
• Social exclusion: one is prevented from or denied full
participation in such arenas and relationships, and
consequently, is unable to live a full human life; this
being a situation of some duration or permanence
• What appears to be voluntary withdrawal from arenas
and relationships may conceal de facto exclusion
• Indicators of social inclusion (or exclusion) should be
sensitive to this variety and complexity
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
8
From characteristics of individuals to social contexts?
• Most indicators on social inclusion (or exclusion)
deal with individual characteristics (income,
relation to paid work, education, health, family
situation, social contacts, etc.)
• More rarely do indicators describe the social
contexts or environments where these
individuals operate (or would like to operate)
• For many purposes, e.g. policy reforms and
design of new measures, the latter may be
equally or even more relevant
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
9
Illustration: indicators on inclusion of people with impairments
• Together with some ethnic minorities, people
with impairments are among those most
exposed to exclusion in Europe
• An international shift in the way of
conceptualising ’disability’, stimulated among
others by innovative work by the WHO (ICF)
• As a result, social indicators are to a growing
extent addressing the contexts and
environments of people with impairments,
understood as facilitators and hindrances of
participation
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
10
Illustration (cont.): inclusion of people with impairments
• How to design survey interviews to highlight social
contexts and environments as facilitators and
barriers?
1) A set of screening or filter questions to identify
respondents with impairments
2) These respondents are asked a module of questions
of specific aspects of environments, e.g. issues of
access, usability & requirements for adjustments, in the
contexts of education, employment, social participation,
transport, goods and services, etc.
• Facilitators: “what makes it easier to participate”
• Barriers: “what makes it harder to participate” (including
products, technology, person support, attitudes, natural
environment, services, systems and policies)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
11
Illustration (cont.): inclusion of people with impairments
• Examples of use of this methodology:
• Statistics Canada (2001) Participation and
Activity Limitation Survey
• SINTEF Norway / University of Nambia (2003)
Living conditions among people with disabilities
in Nambia
• Statistics Norway (2003, 2004) Disabled people
in the labour market – results form an ad hoc
module in the Labour Force Survey 2nd quarter
in 2002, 2003 & 2004
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
12
Illustration (cont.): inclusion of people with impairments
• Examples of indicators of inclusion from the use of this
methodology (Statistics Norway 2003):
• Proportion of people with impairments in employment compared to
the total population 16-66 years (2002: 47 % and 80 % resp.)
• Proportion of people with impairments in employment who had had
adjustments in work arrangements (2002: 42 %); work tasks (12%),
working hours (20%), physical arrangements (11%)
• Proportion of people with impairments in employment with
adjustments made who required additional adjustments in work
arrangements (2002: 17 %)
• Proportion of people with impairments in employment without
adjustments who required adjustments in work arrangements (2002:
16 %)
• Proportion of people with impairments outside employment who
wished to work and would require adjustments in work
arrangements (2002: 30 %)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
13
Illustration (cont.): inclusion of people with impairments
• Compare with Eurostat: Labour Force Survey – 2002
ad hoc module on employment of disabled people,
where questions included:
• Whether some sort of assistance is needed to work
• Type of assistance provided/needed to work:
- Assistance with kind of work
- Assistance with amount of work
- Assistance with mobility to get to and from work
- Support and understanding by superiors and
colleagues
- Other
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
14
Concluding remarks
• As suggested by Sen, Nussbaum & Salais,
social indicators should to a greater extent focus
on people’s capabilities; i.e. their actual scope
to use resources to improve their own well-being
and gain more control over their life in a longer
time perspective – effective freedom
• Social exclusion as capability deprivation
• Indicators of social inclusion (or exclusion)
should to a greater extent adopt a multilevel
perspective, as is currently done in research on
social capital
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
15