The measurement of the quality of society as part of monitoring social progress

Transcription

1 The measurement of the quality of society as part of monitoring social progress Tadas Leoncikas Research manager, Surveys and Trends Unit, Eurofound Social Reporting in Europe 2011: Measuring and Monitoring Social Progress in European Societies Villa Vigoni, 10 March 2011

2 European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) as a monitoring tool Aim of the EQLS - to provide a comprehensive portrait of quality of life and living conditions in European countries, including all EU Member States and Candidate Countries, through broad thematic coverage, analysis of disparities, and trend monitoring. The EQLS responds to demands for monitoring social progress and well-being: serves as a rich source of information about contemporary European societies, relevant for both research and policy communities; resonates with Stiglitz report and growing interest in non-monetary aspects of well-being; is among sources outlined in European Commission s GDP and beyond and can also inform and guide the Europe 2020 agenda on inclusive growth.

3 EQLS key features of the survey Representative household survey among country residents aged 18 and over Stratified multistage sampling (regions settlements - PSU addresses - individuals) Input harmonised survey (common questionnaire for F2F interview) Frequency of the survey: every 4 years Country coverage Sample size Total # of int. in EU27 26,000 31,500 35,000 Also, a set of 19 EQLS indicators was incorporated in Special Eurobarometer surveys in 2009 and 2010.

4 Eurofound s conceptual framework of measuring quality of life in EQLS Scope that people have to attain their goals. Quality of life is measured by objective as well subjective indicators. Quality of life as overarching frame that entails concepts at level of individual, family, community, and society. EQLS is based on a multi-dimensional concept of QoL: Goes beyond focus on living conditions or resources, The survey covers broad spectrum of domains of life (employment, housing, family, health, community, participation in society, socioeconomic (in)security); and analyses interrelationship between domains (such as work, family, health and wellbeing); Addresses quality of society: trust, intergroup relations, quality of public and neighbourhood services.

5 EQLS series of analytical reports Family life and work Quality of life in ethnic neighbourhoods Quality of life in the EU Candidate Countries

6 Evaluating the quality of society and public services indicators in EQLS Interpersonal trust Trust in institutions Perceived social tensions Evaluation of public services Access to health care Neighbourhood quality

7 Quality of public services (EQLS 2007) 10,0 6,3 6,2 6,1 6,0 5,5 4,8 1,0 Public transport Education system Health services Child care Care services for elderly State pension system Source: EQLS 2007 Rose, Newton (2010)

8 Public Services Index (EQLS 2007) Score: average evaluations of 6 services on 1-10 scale : education, healthcare, public transport, childcare, elderly care, pension systems

9 Public expenditure as % of GDP / Publ.service Index r=0.30 Source: EQLS 2007 Rose, Newton (2010)

10 Multilevel model of public services index (variance accounted for: 19.4%) B coeff. St.err. P Impact (B x range) Transparency Int. (CPI index) Gini coef. (Eurostat 2004) ns Region, % of EU average GDP ns Urban; Female; Age; Mix backgr. ns Further education Income adequacy Number of deprivation items Long-term citizen Number of political contacts Church attendance Source: EQLS 2007 Rose, Newton (2010)

11 Socioeconomically disadvantaged evaluate services worse than those who are better off. Perception of service quality does not directly depend on one s sociodemographic group (gender or age are not decisive; elderly have slightly higher eval.); However: life satisfaction during crisis fell most among those less well off e.g. elderly in NMS Challenge for survey design: universal vs particular questions.

12 New indicators for EQLS 2011 Expanding list of evaluated public services: health services education system public transport child care services (2003, 2007, 2011) long term care services social/municipal housing Adding questions on difficulties in accessing services for: long-term care childcare Rating financial adequacy of: state old age pensions unemployment benefits child benefits

13 Social tensions EQLS 2007, Q25. In all countries there sometimes exists tension between social groups. In your opinion, how much tension is there between each of the following groups in this country? Poor and rich people Management and workers Men and women Old people and young people Different racial and ethnic groups Different religious groups Groups with different sexual orientation (test in 2011)

14 Level of perceived social tensions (EU27) 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Poor and rich people Management and workers 36% 30% 33% 33% 37% 32% 35% 33% Different ethnic groups 44% 40% 42% 42% Source: EQLS for 2003, 2007; EB for 2009, 2010

15 Source: EQLS Percentage reporting a lot of tension

16 Differences between the EU countries on quality indexes 175 Low econ Low relig- Political Public Neighbour- Access to Standardised tension racial trust services hood health average tension services score Source: EQLS 2007 Rose, Newton (2010: p. 53)

17 The EQLS findings for assessing the quality of society across countries No country is consistently above/below average on the EQLS indexes of quality of society. Most extensive country differences are by the level and dominant type of perceived social tensions (even though Public services index easier to be used for progress monitoring ) Perceived corruption has an outstanding influence on a number of dimensions of q. of society The wellbeing will not be understood and explained fully if analysis will remain on individual level only.

18 Eurofound report (2010) by R.Rose and K.Newton Evaluating the quality of society and public services: See more EQLS results on Survey Map Tool: Free access to Eurofound survey data sets at UKDA: Thank you!