Hows Life? 2013 : Focusing on People Key findings Martine Durand - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

How’s Life? 2013: Focusing on People Key findings

Martine Durand OECD Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics Directorate

European Economic and Social Committee Brussels, 4 December 2013

• GDP is a key measure to monitor macro-economic activity but it is not a

metric of people’s well-being

• GDP/economic growth is an important means to people’s well-being but it is

not the ultimate goal

• In 2011, the OECD launched its Better Life Initiative as part of its new mission

to achieve Better Policies for Better Lives

• The Better Life Initiative is very much in line with other similar “beyond

GDP” initiatives:

– Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report – EU 2020; Eurostat sponsorship – UN Resolution calling for “holistic approach to development” to promote sustainable happiness and well-being – Rio+20 Sustainable Development Goals – Many national initiatives for measuring well-being

Context : Going beyond GDP

The OECD well-being framework

People rather than economic

system or GDP

Outcomes rather than

inputs and outputs Both averages and

inequalities

Both objective and

subjective aspects

Both today and tomorrow

36 countries

OECD countries Brazil Russia

Contents of How’s Life? 2013

Gender gaps in well-being The human costs of the financial crisis Measuring what matters in people’s life Well-being in the workplace

How’s life in 2013?

Top 20% performers Australia Canada Denmark Norway Sweden Switzerland United States 60% middle performers Austria Belgium Czech Republic Finland France Germany Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea Luxembourg Netherlands New Zealand Poland Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain United Kingdom 20% bottom performers Chile Estonia Greece Hungary Mexico Portugal Turkey

No well-being champion but some countries do better than others

Source: How’s Life? 2013 – Unweighted averages across all well-being dimensions

How’s life in 2013?

Denmark Germany Greece

The global financial crisis has had a profound impact

• n people’s well-being

Life satisfaction dropped as unemployment increased

Source: How’s Life? 2013 X-axis: Life Satisfaction =average score on a 0-10 scale ; source: OECD calculations on the World Gallup Poll Y-axis: Long term unemployment rate= % of the labour force unemployed for one year or more; source: OECD Labour Force Statistics

1 1 2 2 3 3

6,7 6,8 6,9 7,0 7,1 7,2 7,3 7,4 7,5 7,6

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

United States

Life satisfaction Long-term unemployment rate (right hand y-axis)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5,6 5,8 6,0 6,2 6,4 6,6 6,8 7,0 7,2 7,4 7,6

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

OECD Euro area (selected countries)

Life satisfaction Long-term unemployment rate (right hand y-axis)

Economic well-being declined

Source: OECD calculations on US SIPP and EU-SILC

Housing conditions deteriorated Strong decline in household disposable income

Source: OECD National Accounts Database

In the Euro area, the share of the population with total housing costs greater or equal to 40% of disposable income rose

OECD Euro Area, 2007 = 100 Around 20% of US households moved in with other households

5 6 7 8 9 10 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Owner with mortgage or loan

90 92 94 96 98 100 102 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Household disposable income per capita GDP per capita

The crisis also affected other aspects of life

Trust in governments declined But new forms of solidarity emerged

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 OECD OECD Euro area JPN USA Percentage of people reporting to trust national government 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 OECD OECD Euro area USA Percentage of people reporting having helped someone, 2007=100

Source: OECD calculations on Gallup World Poll

Full impact may become visible only later

Youth bore the brunt of labour market adjustments Unmet medical needs increased in some European countries

OECD Euro area employment rates of different groups relative to that of the overall population 2008 Q1=100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

OECD Europe GRC ITA FRA Percentage of people reporting unmet medical needs for financial reasons

Source: OECD Labour Force Statistics Source: OECD calculations on EU-SILC

80 90 100 110 120

Youth (aged 15/16-24) Older workers (aged 55-64) Low-skilled (aged 25-64) High-skilled (aged 25-64)

Job Demands

• Work pressure
• Emotional demands
• Physical health risk factors
• Workplace intimidation

Job Resources

• Work autonomy
• Learning opportunities
• Task clarity
• Supportive management practices
• Colleagues’ support

Strained jobs: High demands and Low resources

The working environment matters a lot for well-being…

Important to balance job demands and resources

… in particular for workers’ health

Strained jobs impair workers’ health …and affect firms as well

Source: OECD calculations on the European Survey on Working Conditions 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 High job demands and low job resources High job demands and high job resources Low job demands and low job resources Low job demands and high job resources Proportion of European workers reporting that work impairs their health, 2010 2 4 6 8 10 12 High job demands and low job resources High job demands and high job resources Low job demands and low job resources Low job demands and high job resources Number of annual days of sick leave, Europe, 2010

Economic reward from work is important for employment quality

Poverty rates among individuals living in households with at least one worker, 2010 Source: OECD Income Distribution Database

In many countries work is not an antidote to poverty

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Gender differences in economic and other aspects of well-being remain large

Declining but persistent wage gaps Women still confronted with the double day burden

10 20 30 40 50

2010 or latest available year 2000 or first available year Gender wage gaps (Men minus Women/Men )

5 10 15 20 25

Gender time gaps

(Women minus Men) Source: OECD Employment Database Source: OECD calculations based on national time-use surveys

Number of weekly hours of unpaid work

It’s not just a women issue

Women are the primary target of intimate violence and have greater fears about their safety

On average in the OECD, 25% of women say they have been victim

• f intimate violence from their partner

Women are under-represented in top management and political positions

On average in the OECD, only 27% of parliamentary seats are occupied by women

Women live 5 years longer than men Young women are more educated than young men

BUT…

Women have different values and attitudes

Men turn to friends to find a job while women turn to their partners Women are as satisfied with their job as men, but for different reasons

Source: OECD calculations on European Quality of Life Survey

Women value flexibility of work schedule, social relations and meaningfulness of tasks most Men value money most

Proportion of men and women relying on partner/spouse and friends if they needed help when looking for a job, Europe, 2007

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Men Women Partner / spouse Friend

Well-being tomorrow

Measuring the stocks of resources that can sustain well-being for future generations The choices governments make today can have an impact on the levels of well- being in the future

Natural capital Economic capital Social capital Human capital

OECD work on improving the measurement of well-being

• Moving forward the statistical agenda:

– Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-Being – Framework for Measuring Income, Consumption and Wealth; Inequalities in the National Accounts – Guidelines for measuring Household Wealth; wealth distribution dataset – Measures of Social Capital – Green Growth Indicators

• From cross-country to country-specific analysis to

provide the country with a framework for conducting a “well-being diagnosis”

From measurement to policy

• Analytical work to identify well-being interrelationships and understand

the determinants of well-being outcomes

• Two OECD horizontal projects will make use of these findings for policy:

– NAEC (New Approaches to Economic Challenges): how to manage complex trade-offs and synergies in a multidimensional policy decision framework building on country experiences – Inclusive Growth: how to deliver economic and non-economic benefits of growth fairly across social groups and over time

THANK YOU!

For any question, contact progress@oecd.org www.oecd.org/measuringprogress www.oecd.org/howslife www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org