The first working paper of the project EUROSHIP- Closing gaps in European social citizenship is available online!
State-of-the-art review of indicators and data on poverty and social exclusion
The working paper “State-of-the-art review of indicators and data on poverty and social exclusion” is the result of the collaboration of partners from the Social Research Institute Tarki of Budapest and the University of Florence. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the reliability and validity of existing indicators used by the European Commission to monitor developments in the field of poverty and social exclusion.
In their work, Researchers assess the quality and suitability of the main data sources to provide reliable indicators concerning various vulnerable groups across Europe and identify any obstacles to comparative analyses across countries and over time, including the experiences of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) and of national statistical offices.
Further, they evaluate the validity of the Social Scoreboard indicators from a social rights point of view, including the views of scholars and other stakeholders. The research lead them to realize that there are vulnerable groups for which indicators are mostly reliable – such as persons with low education – while others – such as estimates for persons with migrant background – are more problematic. Most indicators are reliable across groups, with only few exceptions, such as the severe housing deprivation rate. Furthermore, an additional breakdown by sex aggravates the issues, especially in the case of indicators which are already problematic. The results of the statistical analysis are largely reinforced by the experiences of national statistical offices, assessed via an online survey.
Measures to overcome problems posed by sample size are on the table in some countries, such as Germany and Spain. Finally, according to another survey that Researchers submitted to social policy experts, the Social Scoreboard is considered to be a valuable and feasible tool, although not devoid of limits and in need of future improvements.
The publication is available here below or on the “publications” page on EUROSHIP official website, here.
EUROSHIP Working Papers are scientific outputs from the project. The series is edited by the project coordinator Professor Rune Halvorsen. The working papers are intended to meet the European Commission’s expected impact from the project. I particular they aim:
- i) to advance the knowledge base that underpins the formulation and implementation of relevant policies in Europe with the aim of exercising the EU social rights as an integral part of EU citizenship and promoting upward convergence
- ii) to engage with relevant communities, stakeholders and practitioners in the research with a view to supporting social protection policies in Europe.