Social Justice in the EU – Index Report 2017 Social Inclusion Monitor Europe Daniel Schraad-Tischler, Christof Schiller, Sascha Matthias Heller, Nina Siemer EU Social Justice Index 2017 1 Denmark 7.39 2 Sweden 7.31 3 Finland 7.14 4 Czech Republic 6.84 5 Slovenia 6.74 6 Netherlands 6.73 7 Germany 6.71 8 Austria 6.69 9 Luxembourg 6.55 10 France 6.29 11 United Kingdom 6.22 12 Estonia 6.19 13 Belgium 6.18 14 Slovakia 5.91 EU Average 5.85 15 Poland 5.79 Malta 5.79 17 Ireland 5.66 18 Lithuania 5.61 19 Latvia 5.46 20 Portugal 5.36 21 Cyprus 5.31 22 Hungary 5.18 23 Croatia 5.07 24 Spain 4.96 25 Italy 4.84 26 Bulgaria 4.19 27 Romania 3.99 28 Greece 3.70 Social Justice Index Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia I 6.70 I 6.06 I 1.39 I 4.21 II 6.33 II 6.19 II 6.23 II 6.91 III 7.06 III 6.02 III 5.44 III 4.35 IV 6.72 IV 6.41 IV 4.02 IV 4.85 V 7.22 V 7.64 V 5.20 V 6.00 I Poverty prevention VI 6.10 VI 5.12 VI 5.20 VI 4.72 II Equitable education 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 III Labor market access France Germany Greece Hungary I 6.65 I 6.29 I 2.53 I 4.73 IV Social cohesion and II 5.93 II 6.54 II 5.27 II 5.20 non-discrimination III 5.90 III 7.21 III 3.46 III 6.33 IV 6.20 IV 6.97 IV 4.36 IV 4.48 V Health V 7.50 V 8.05 V 3.99 V 5.33 VI Intergenerational justice VI 5.59 VI 5.69 VI 3.60 VI 4.72 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania I 6.20 I 6.98 I 5.77 I 5.01 I 1.77 II 4.54 II 6.09 II 6.86 II 4.92 II 4.91 III 6.46 III 6.82 III 5.85 III 5.97 III 5.50 IV 4.89 IV 7.53 IV 5.77 IV 5.86 IV 4.33 V 7.66 V 7.70 V 4.69 V 6.04 V 4.21 VI 4.73 VI 5.27 VI 4.73 VI 4.89 VI 5.18 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Annotation: Scores on a scale from 1 to 10. Higher Scores = better performance. For further information see ”Methodology“ (chapter 3). Source: Own calculations. 1 Denmark 7.39 2 Sweden 7.31 3 Finland 7.14 4 Czech Republic 6.84 5 Slovenia 6.74 6 Netherlands 6.73 7 Germany 6.71 8 Austria 6.69 9 Luxembourg 6.55 10 France 6.29 11 United Kingdom 6.22 12 Estonia 6.19 13 Belgium 6.18 14 Slovakia 5.91 EU Average 5.85 15 Poland 5.79 Malta 5.79 17 Ireland 5.66 18 Lithuania 5.61 19 Latvia 5.46 20 Portugal 5.36 21 Cyprus 5.31 22 Hungary 5.18 23 Croatia 5.07 24 Spain 4.96 25 Italy 4.84 26 Bulgaria 4.19 27 Romania 3.99 28 Greece 3.70 Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland I 4.40 I 7.81 I 7.00 I 5.18 I 7.03 II 6.72 II 6.35 II 7.84 II 7.14 II 7.62 III 5.36 III 6.46 III 7.63 III 6.99 III 6.73 IV 5.54 IV 6.11 IV 7.31 IV 6.26 IV 7.46 V 6.27 V 7.61 V 7.43 V 5.17 V 6.99 VI 3.91 VI 5.66 VI 7.19 VI 6.69 VI 7.20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg I 4.80 I 4.16 I 4.21 I 3.83 I 6.58 II 5.87 II 5.40 II 7.25 II 7.26 II 6.08 III 6.09 III 5.17 III 6.24 III 6.07 III 6.47 IV 6.53 IV 4.88 IV 5.02 IV 5.97 IV 7.20 V 6.35 V 5.79 V 3.91 V 5.75 V 7.82 VI 5.39 VI 4.10 VI 6.07 VI 6.24 VI 5.65 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom I 6.67 I 6.60 I 4.35 I 6.62 I 5.70 II 5.99 II 7.30 II 5.32 II 7.77 II 6.10 III 5.49 III 6.61 III 4.10 III 7.03 III 7.10 IV 5.63 IV 7.07 IV 5.88 IV 7.50 IV 6.14 V 5.38 V 6.44 V 7.04 V 8.16 V 7.09 VI 5.13 VI 6.24 VI 4.75 VI 7.97 VI 5.47 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Annotation: Scores on a scale from 1 to 10. Higher Scores = better performance. For further information see ”Methodology“ (chapter 3). Source: Own calculations. SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE EU – INDEX REPORT 2017 4 Table of content I. Key findings, in brief 6 IV. Twenty-eight country profiles 89 II. Dimensions of social justice: Austria 89 empirical findings 2017 17 Belgium 90 Bulgaria 92 1. Poverty prevention 17 Croatia 94 2. Equitable education 28 Cyprus 95 3. Labor market access 35 Czech Republic 97 4. Social cohesion and Denmark 98 non-discrimination 48 Estonia 100 5. Health 60 Finland 102 6. Intergenerational justice 66 France 103 Germany 105 III. Methodology 80 Greece 107 Hungary 109 Ireland 110 Italy 112 Latvia 114 Lithuania 115 Luxembourg 117 Malta 119 Netherlands 120 Poland 122 Portugal 124 Romania 125 Slovakia 127 Slovenia 129 Spain 130 Sweden 132 United Kingdom 134 References 136 Figures 140 Appendix 142 Publishing information 176 5 SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE EU – INDEX REPORT 2017 I. Key findings, in brief 1. Europe is recovering not only economically, but also in the domain of social justice After years of downward movement, an upward trend in the domain of social justice is evident in the broad majority of EU member states. Although far from all member states have regained their pre-crisis levels, the most recent EU Social Justice Index data give cause for hope that the worst is over not just in economic terms, but also from a social perspective. At the top of this year’s Social Justice Index are the northern European states of Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Round- ing out the top group are the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Austria and Germany, while Greece, despite again posting slight gains this year, remains clearly in last place. Labor market recovery as a driver of social improvements Recovery in the labor market has been the primary driver of improved participa- tion opportunities in the EU. Job opportunities have improved in 26 of the 28 states as compared to the previous year. Recent data show the unemployment rate as a cross-EU average to have fallen to 8.7%. In 2013, at the height of the social crisis, this was 11% on a cross-EU basis (2008: 7%). An upward trend is also evident for the employment rate, which has risen from 64.1% (2013) to 66.6% (2016). An additional positive sign is that the recovery in the labor market has visibly reached the countries hit hardest by the crisis, even if the overall volume of joblessness remains very high particularly in southern Europe. In Greece, for example, the unemployment rate has fallen from 27.7% (2013) to 23.7% (2016), while in Spain a decline from 26.2% to 19.7% has been evident in the same time period.