Documents measurement 76 results

"This paper considers the measurement of poverty in the European Union (EU). Starting from a definition of poverty that is suitable for the European context, a flexible measurement framework is proposed based on the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke class of poverty measures. Three key issues need to be addressed in the measurement of poverty. First, one has to determine the appropriate metric of individual well-being. Second, a cut-off value or threshold needs to be established under which persons are considered to be poor. Third, it is necessary to outline an aggregation procedure to attain a poverty figure for society as a whole. In what follows, we discuss the different answers that are implicit in the poverty measures applied in this book* and the EU's social strategy. The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) are introduced as the main data source for poverty analysis in the EU. Finally, an illustration is provided of how the different conceptual choices in the measurement of poverty affect the empirical findings regarding the evolution of poverty between 2005 and 2009. It turns out that the selection of individual well-being metric and the choice between a county-specific and a pan-European poverty line strongly affect observed patterns of poverty in the EU. * Cantillon, B. and Vandenbroucke, F. (eds.), For Better For Worse, For Richer For Poorer. Labour market participation, social redistribution and income poverty in the EU. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming)."

"This paper is a critical assessment of the indicator which has been developed to measure the relative number of people living in households with low, or very low, work intensity which is part of the Europe 2020 target set to reduce poverty and social exclusion in the European Union. It considers the way the indicator is defined and calculated, in particular, the age group taken to be of working-age, the treatment of students, the threshold defined to denote low work intensity and the extent of missing cases. It also examines how far the source of data used – the EU-SILC – correctly distinguishes those of working age who were not employed, or at least very little, over the year to which the indicator applies. It assesses, in addition, whether it is possible to use the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to estimate low household work intensity in advance of the EU-SILC data becoming available, given that that there is a lengthy delay between the year to which the EU-SILC relates and the publication of the data. It considers as well whether it is possible to estimate a measure of persistently low work intensity from the EU-SILC longitudinal data to complement the indicator and add a further level of detail relevant for policy. Finally, it assesses the reliability of the indicator from a statistical perspective by estimating the confidence intervals surrounding the point-estimates both for low work intensity in a particular year and for persistently low work intensity over a 4-year period."

"This paper compares macroeconomic results related to efficiency wages, contracts with bonus and tournaments in a framework with unverifiable effort. When effort is fully observable, both contracts with bonus and tournaments, unlike efficiency wages, solve the incentive problem without generating involuntary unemployment. Only tournaments, however, allow attainment of the Pareto optimal employment level. If effort is not fully observable, previous results must, to some extent, be reconsidered. Contracts with bonus also produce involuntary unemployment, while tournaments, in addition to continuing to produce a higher level of employment, generate involuntary unemployment only if a shirker who is not caught has some probability of winning."

"How did Gross domestic product (GDP) become the world's most influential indicator? Why does it still remain the primary measure of societal progress despite being widely criticised for not considering well-being or sustainability? Why have the many beyond-GDP alternatives not managed to effectively challenge GDP's dominance? The success of GDP and the failure of beyond-GDP lies in their underlying communities. The macro-economic community emerged in the aftermath of the Great Depression and WWII. This community formalised their 'language' in the System of National Accounts (SNA) which provided the global terminology with which to communicate. On the other hand, beyond-GDP is a heterogeneous community which speaks in many dialects, accents and languages. Unless this changes, the 'beyond-GDP cottage industry' will never beat the 'GDP-multinational'. This book proposes a new roadmap to 2030, detailing how to create a multidisciplinary Wellbeing and Sustainability Science (WSS) with a common language, the System of Global and National Accounts (SGNA)."

"Purpose
Workplace risk assessment (WRA) is crucial for the management of psychosocial risks at work (PSRM), but some enterprises may also implement PSRM measures without formal WRA, in particular small and micro enterprises. This study analyses the associations between WRA and PRSM, and whether the associations vary by company size.
Methods
The data come from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) collected at the enterprise level in the EU-28 countries in 2014 (n = 40,584) and 2019 (n = 39,711). We distinguish eight measures of PSRM, and assess whether companies conduct a comprehensive WRA that includes psychosocial risks.
Results
Many companies reported PSRM measures. The lowest rates were for “intervention in the case of long working hours” (2014: 26%, 2019: 32%), while the highest rates were for “procedures in the case of threats” (56%, 60%). Enterprises with a comprehensive WRA are more likely to implement measures (even after controlling for company size, industry, sector and country), but some enterprises have implemented PSRM even in the absence of a WRA, especially in 2014 or in smaller companies (5–49 employees). For example, findings suggest that in 2014 40% of the enterprises without a WRA have implemented “procedures in the case of threats” (2019: 46%).
Conclusion
The findings underline the importance of a WRA that includes psychosocial risks as a means of implementing PSRM measures, but also advocates for a broader perspective that considers measures taken independently of legal occupational safety and health (OSH) standards, especially in small and micro enterprises."

This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

"Equality between women and men is a fundamental value of the European Union, enshrined in its Treaties, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The capacity of EU institutions to help shape gender relations in its Member States has been present since its earliest days (Verloo and Lombardo, 2007). Although the Treaty of Rome was signed at a time when the gender equality landscape looked substantially different from the contemporary one, it nevertheless contained a clause on equal pay between women and men, a precursor to the legislation and policy approaches that emerged throughout Europe in later years. Gender equality is recognised as vital to economic growth, prosperity and competitiveness, as exemplified by the Council's commitment to fulfil EU ambitions on gender equality through the adoption of the European Pact for Gender Equality (2011–2020) (7349/11) and the European Commission's Strategy for Equality between Women and Men (2010–2015) (COM(2010) 491 final). The EU, as a multi-level governance framework, plays a crucial role in enabling a concern for gender equality in Member States' policies, gender norms and cultures to filter down from the international and EU level to national, regional and local levels."

"L'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes est une valeur fondamentale de l'Union européenne (UE), ancrée dans ses traités et dans la charte des droits fondamentaux de l'Union européenne. La nécessité d'un Indice d'égalité de genre a été mentionnée pour la première fois par la Commission européenne dans la feuille de route pour l'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes (2006- 2010) et prise en compte par la suite dans le plan d'action de sa stratégie pour l'égalité entre les femmes et les hommes 2010-2015. L'Institut européen pour l'égalité entre les hommes et les femmes (EIGE) a entrepris d'élaborer un indicateur composite reflétant la réalité aux multiples facettes de l'égalité de genre, et adapté au contexte politique de l'UE. Il s'agit de l'une des prin¬cipales missions définies dans le programme de tra¬vail à moyen terme (2010-2012) de l'institut. L'Indice d'égalité de genre est le fruit de trois ans de travail et le résultat d'un long processus de consultation auprès d'un grand nombre d'organisations et de parties pre¬nantes. Il a été présenté pour la première fois au public lors d'une conférence qui s'est déroulée à Bruxelles le 13 juin 2013. L'Indice d'égalité de genre est un indica¬teur synthétique qui doit permettre d'évaluer si l'UE et ses États membres étaient près (ou loin) de parvenir à l'égalité complète entre les femmes et les hommes en 2010. Il sera actualisé tous les deux ans."