Transcript link

Public policy and European society
University of Castellanza
Session 3(b)
Poverty and social exclusion
April 20 2016
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.
‘At risk thresholds’ EU 25 2005
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
LV
LT
PL
EE
SK
HU
CZ
PT
EL
MT
SI
ES
IT
FI
SE
FR
DE
IE
CY
DK
BE
NL
AT
UK
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
LU
National or European
standards?
Source: Fahey (2007) using 2001 EU indicators
The median
income in
Romania is far
less than the
poverty threshold
in most EU states
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)
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)
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)
Europe 2020
European Platform Against Poverty
Aim to lift 20 million people out of poverty!
But what does this actually mean…?
Poverty in Europe2020

(1) At risk of poverty
» 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 is less than 10 per adult member
So (1) is specific to each member state; (2) and
(3) apply across EU.
Poverty rates after the crisis
Crisis and poverty
Crisis has
dramatically
increased
poverty rate in
‘South’
Poverty rate ‘anchored’ at fixed point in time (here 2008).
Source: Employment and Social Developments in Europe
2013.
European welfare states
Three (or perhaps four) worlds of welfare




Liberal
Universal
Conservative
Mediterranean
Despite variety everywhere inequality less than USA
Changes since c2000


Major change: Germany – erosion of insurance principle, more
inequality, more working poor
Elsewhere NO big changes in system
BUT impact of crisis

Worst where welfare state incomplete (Greece!)
Conclusion

Traditional welfare state remains crucial: and the defining feature
of Europe today