Tools for an Inclusive Ontario

< Previous paper      Go to the list of papers       Next paper >

7: The European Union and Social and Economic Inclusion (SEI) Indicators

While there is a burgeoning literature on theories of social and economic inclusion/exclusion, a scan of recent literature reveals that European Union (EU) policymakers were the first to tackle developing indicators of SEI. Although indicators are a familiar tool in healthy public policy thinking, it is new area of enquiry in the social policy arena. Below are three examples of social and economic inclusion indicator typologies from the EU.

The Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union requires common tools and language to measure progress toward eliminating poverty and social exclusion across EU member states. Note that these indicatorsⁱ expose exclusion rather than inclusion and focus on social outcome rather than process.

Primary Indicators:

1. Low income rate after transfers, with low-income threshold set at 60% of median income (with breakdowns by gender, age, most frequent activity status, household type and tenure status; as illustrative examples, the values for typical households)
2. Distribution of income (income quintile ratio)
3. Persistence of low income
4. Median low income gap
5. Regional cohesion
6. Long term unemployment rate
7. People living in jobless households
8. Early school leavers not in further education or training
9. Life expectancy at birth
10. Self perceived health status

Secondary Indicators:

11. Dispersion around the 60% median low income threshold
12. Low income rate anchored at a point in time
13. Low income rate before transfers
14. Distribution of income (Gini coefficient)
15. Persistence of low income (based on 50% of median income)
16. Long term unemployment share
17. Very long term unemployment rate.
18. Persons with low educational attainment

The University of Dundee in Scotland

The University of Dundee posted a list of 23 social inclusion indicators (comprised of approximately 75 measures), developed by the Dundee Partnership Community Regeneration Strategyⁱⁱ. There are four themes: Stability, Sustainability, Prosperity and Empowerment. The list includes a mix of indicators: those specified by the Scottish Office to track national conditions and those that apply to communities/neighbourhoods and particular programmes.

1. Improve Community Support
2. Increase Housing Tenure Mix
3. Reduce Crime and Fear of Crime
4. Stabilize Population Levels and Reduce High Turnover
5. Improve Physical, Economic and Social Structures
6. Increase Sense of Belonging
7. Create Work
8. Enhance Educational Attainment
9. Promote Community Integration
10. Positive Environmental Benefit
11. Facilitate Transportation and Safety
12. Promote Youth Initiative
13. Enhance Employment Prospects
14. Increase Availability of Affordable Childcare
15. Enhance the Contribution of the Private Sector and Support Their Involvement
16. Alleviate Poverty
17. Promote Good Health
18. Build Community Capacity
19. Increase the Involvement of Citizens in Decisions
20. Involve Proofing of Local Authority/Partner Agencies in Policies Prior to Implementation
21. Deliver Training Locally
22. Provide Funding for Community Controlled Initiatives
23. Support Volunteers

The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN)

The European Anti-Poverty Network developed 18 indicators in five areas for submission to the 2001 conference called 'Indicators for social inclusion - Making common EU objectives work'ⁱⁱⁱ. "The best indicators are those which gauge changes in the everyday lives of people living in poverty and social exclusion. Such indicators can only be defined through a participatory method which involves a close cooperation between them and the researchers."

Poverty:

1. Poverty rate before and after tax and social transfers
2. Persistence of poverty
3. Percentage of households who face difficulty in x items out of a list to be developed
4. Percentage of children living in poor households after tax and social transfers
5. Ratio between children from poor households taken into care and children in care from the population as a whole

Note: These data should highlight the situation of various types of households (one parent families, etc.)

Employment:

6. Long term unemployment rate (over one year)
7. Very long term unemployment rate (over three years)
8. Indicator of precarious unemployment:
9. Percentage of workers in stable employment for over six months
10. Percentage of workforce in non-voluntary part time work

Education/Training:

11. Early school leavers not in education or training
12. Young people leaving school without any qualification
13. Illiteracy rate

Health:

14. Number of people who could not have access to health care through lack of means (financial means or inadequate and inaccessible services) over the past year
15. Number of people who have gone without food at some point over the past year

Housing:

16. Number of homeless people (living on the street, with friends or family or in hostels)
17. Number of people living in substandard or overcrowded housing
18. Number of people without water or electricity supplies for at least a month

Researched and written by Krissa Fay.

April 25, 2003

Endnotes

ⁱ Council of the European Union, Social Protection Committee, Report on Indicators in the field of poverty and social exclusion, October 2001:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2002/jan/report_ind_en.pdf

ⁱⁱ Dundee Partnership and Regeneration Strategy, Social Inclusion Partnership Indicators and Typology, November 1998: http://www.trp.dundee.ac.uk/research/geddes/monitor/indicat.htm.

ⁱⁱⁱ Press Release, Belgian Presidency Conference, EAPN proposals for indicators for social inclusion, September 12, 2001: http://europa.eu.int/infonet/forum/047en.pdf

The opinions expressed in this project do not necessarily reflect the official views of Health Canada, Population Public Health Branch, now the Public Health Agency of Canada, or the Laidlaw Foundation.

< Previous paper      Go to the list of papers       Next paper >

Back to top

Some documents in this section are PDFs, which require Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Address: 180 Dundas Street West, Suite 1900 Toronto, Ontario Canada M5G 1Z8          Contact Us          Website Policy