Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

UK Ranks Behind Former Eastern Bloc Countries On Social Justice

Jan Hofmeyr 4th February 2015

Jan Hofmeyr

Jan Hofmeyr

Of the many tough economic lessons from the latter part of the previous decade, the one about the unreliability of GDP size and growth rates as diagnostics of economic wellbeing has probably been the most sobering. We now know that although economies have to grow to prosper, they cannot do so at all cost, especially when the prosperity benefits some disproportionately at the expense of others.

While the prosperity gap between developed and emerging economies has narrowed since the turn of the millennium, the schisms within many widened. While this was most pronounced within the new rising stars, developed economies also have to deal with an increasing sense of exclusion that may in the longer term erode the fibre that holds their societies together.

The United Kingdom (UK) offers a case in point. The nation seems well on its way to post-recession recovery. By year-end 2014 it has posted the highest growth figures for all of Europe’s major economies, which at around 2.6 per cent has seen it surpass levels last achieved before the recession.

Also encouraging is the fact that unemployment seems to be on a downward curve, with only 6 per cent of the job-seeking workforce out of work. But by now the experience of the past six to seven years should also caution us to ask the tougher questions about what the quality of this growth was in terms of the livelihoods of ordinary Britons.

On social justice, UK ranks behind former Eastern bloc countries

The results of the recently released report Social Justice in the EU – A Cross-national Comparison, published by the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Sustainable Governance Indicators (SGI) project, show that the UK’s austerity driven recovery may look better on paper than in practice for ordinary Britons. The report, authored by Daniel Schraad-Tischler and Christian Kroll, forms part of the Social Inclusion Monitor Europe (SIM), a joint research cooperation of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the London School of Economics (LSE), and looks into those policy areas that are critical for the development of individual capabilities and opportunities.

The report analyses all 28 European Union (EU) countries and draws its insights from an index, consisting of six items, namely poverty prevention; the inclusivity of the education system, labour market access, social cohesion, health, and intergenerational justice. The UK’s cumulative score ranks it 13th in the EU, which places it just slightly higher than the EU average, but below former Eastern bloc countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia.

Strong variations in social justice between the young and the old

Probably the biggest contributor to this result has been the UK’s relatively poor performance on poverty prevention, particularly as it relates to a younger generation of Britons. Overall it ranks 15th for its poverty prevention policy. When looking in more detail at the composite indicators that inform this score, such as the percentage of citizens at risk of poverty or social exclusion, we see that almost a quarter of Britons (24.1 per cent) fall into this category, which gives the UK a ranking of 15 out of the total sample of 28 countries.

The study’s finding on the proportion of the population living under conditions of severe material deprivation should also concern policy makers within the social sphere. Despite its top growth achievement, the UK is ranked 14th for its efforts to contain the proportion of Britons living in severe material deprivation. According to the 2014 index, 7.8 per cent of citizens find themselves in this condition, which is more than double the 3.3 per cent reported in the previous iteration of the index in 2011.

The discrepancy between the situation of senior citizens and children is most glaring. The 1.4 per cent of UK citizens, aged 65 and older, who live under conditions of severe material deprivation, ranks the country amongst the top 6 in terms of its care for the elderly. However, the comparative percentage for children that are aged 17 and younger is 12.5 per cent, just less than double the amount compared to 2008.

Frustration of the working poor

The question begged by this study is why Europe’s top achiever as far as macroeconomic indicators for 2014 are concerned lags so far behind in terms of its ability to foster a society that is more inclusive and lets people benefit from growth.

Part of the answer may lie in one of the up to now less reported aspects of the labour market. Even though employment has increased, real average earnings have been on a downward trajectory for the past six years. More people are working and at the same time more people are struggling to make ends meet. Should this remain a long term trend, the UK should prepare itself for the consequences of the frustration of the working poor, especially the young, who slave away, but at the same time fall further behind.

Amongst the sample of EU states, the UK already ranks amongst the most unequal societies. Its Gini-coefficient, a measure that captures income inequality, with 0 representing absolute equality and 1 absolute inequality, of 0.32 puts it in the same category as countries such as Romania and Bulgaria. Is this the result that the UK seeks to achieve through its austerity driven policies? Of course, trimming down the fat may have been necessary, but at what point, will such policies start to erode its muscle? Hard choices lie ahead.

Jan Hofmeyr

Jan Hofmeyr heads the Policy and Analysis Unit of the Cape Town-based Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. He is part of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Thinkers network.

You are here: Home / Politics / UK Ranks Behind Former Eastern Bloc Countries On Social Justice

Most Popular Posts

European civil war,iron curtain,NATO,Ukraine,Gorbachev The new European civil warGuido Montani
Visentini,ITUC,Qatar,Fight Impunity,50,000 Visentini, ‘Fight Impunity’, the ITUC and QatarFrank Hoffer
Russian soldiers' mothers,war,Ukraine The Ukraine war and Russian soldiers’ mothersJennifer Mathers and Natasha Danilova
IGU,documents,International Gas Union,lobby,lobbying,sustainable finance taxonomy,green gas,EU,COP ‘Gaslighting’ Europe on fossil fuelsFaye Holder
Schengen,Fortress Europe,Romania,Bulgaria Romania and Bulgaria stuck in EU’s second tierMagdalena Ulceluse

Most Recent Posts

HMPs,CMR,hazardous medicinal products,carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic,health workers Protecting health workers from hazardous productsIan Lindsley, Tony Musu and Adam Rogalewski
geopolitical,Europe Options for Europe’s ‘geopolitical’ futureJon Bloomfield
democracy,democratic Reviving democracy in a fragmented EuropeSusanne Wixforth and Kaoutar Haddouti
EU social agenda,social investment,social protection EU social agenda beyond 2024—no time to wasteFrank Vandenbroucke
pension reform,Germany,Lindner Pension reform in Germany—a market solution?Fabian Mushövel and Nicholas Barr

Other Social Europe Publications

front cover scaled Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship
Women Corona e1631700896969 500 Women and the coronavirus crisis
sere12 1 RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound webinar: Making telework work for everyone

Since 2020 more European workers and managers have enjoyed greater flexibility and autonomy in work and are reporting their preference for hybrid working. Also driven by technological developments and structural changes in employment, organisations are now integrating telework more permanently into their workplace.

To reflect on these shifts, on 6 December Eurofound researchers Oscar Vargas and John Hurley explored the challenges and opportunities of the surge in telework, as well as the overall growth of telework and teleworkable jobs in the EU and what this means for workers, managers, companies and policymakers.


WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Discover the new FEPS Progressive Yearbook and what 2023 has in store for us!

The Progressive Yearbook focuses on transversal European issues that have left a mark on 2022, delivering insightful future-oriented analysis for the new year. It counts on renowned authors' contributions, including academics, politicians and analysts. This fourth edition is published in a time of war and, therefore, it mostly looks at the conflict itself, the actors involved and the implications for Europe.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

The macroeconomic effects of re-applying the EU fiscal rules

Against the background of the European Commission's reform plans for the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), this policy brief uses the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to simulate the macroeconomic implications of the most relevant reform options from 2024 onwards. Next to a return to the existing and unreformed rules, the most prominent options include an expenditure rule linked to a debt anchor.

Our results for the euro area and its four biggest economies—France, Italy, Germany and Spain—indicate that returning to the rules of the SGP would lead to severe cuts in public spending, particularly if the SGP rules were interpreted as in the past. A more flexible interpretation would only somewhat ease the fiscal-adjustment burden. An expenditure rule along the lines of the European Fiscal Board would, however, not necessarily alleviate that burden in and of itself.

Our simulations show great care must be taken to specify the expenditure rule, such that fiscal consolidation is achieved in a growth-friendly way. Raising the debt ceiling to 90 per cent of gross domestic product and applying less demanding fiscal adjustments, as proposed by the IMK, would go a long way.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ILO advertisement

Global Wage Report 2022-23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power

The International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report is a key reference on wages and wage inequality for the academic community and policy-makers around the world.

This eighth edition of the report, The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, examines the evolution of real wages, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The report includes evidence on how wages have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis as well as how the current inflationary context is biting into real wage growth in most regions of the world. The report shows that for the first time in the 21st century real wage growth has fallen to negative values while, at the same time, the gap between real productivity growth and real wage growth continues to widen.

The report analysis the evolution of the real total wage bill from 2019 to 2022 to show how its different components—employment, nominal wages and inflation—have changed during the COVID-19 crisis and, more recently, during the cost-of-living crisis. The decomposition of the total wage bill, and its evolution, is shown for all wage employees and distinguishes between women and men. The report also looks at changes in wage inequality and the gender pay gap to reveal how COVID-19 may have contributed to increasing income inequality in different regions of the world. Together, the empirical evidence in the report becomes the backbone of a policy discussion that could play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the different ongoing crises.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2022

Since 2000, the annual Bilan social volume has been analysing the state of play of social policy in the European Union during the preceding year, the better to forecast developments in the new one. Co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), the new edition is no exception. In the context of multiple crises, the authors find that social policies gained in ambition in 2022. At the same time, the new EU economic framework, expected for 2023, should be made compatible with achieving the EU’s social and ‘green’ objectives. Finally, they raise the question whether the EU Social Imbalances Procedure and Open Strategic Autonomy paradigm could provide windows of opportunity to sustain the EU’s social ambition in the long run.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube