Social outcomes Skills and social well-being Nordic PIAAC Conference Copenhagen 21-22 May 2015 Torben Fridberg The Danish National Centre for Social Research www.sfi.dk 1
OECD PIAAC: Four dimensions of what is called well-being 1. level of trust in others 2. participation in associative, religious, political, or charity activities (volunteering) 3. political efficacy or the sense of influence on the political process 4. self assessed health status 2
Background Skills affect people s lives and the level of well-being in ways that go beyond what can be measured by labour market earnings of the individuals and economic growth of the countris. 3
Social outcomes We are talking about social outcomes of the skills although it is not possible to say anything about causality 4
Social outcomes Trust in others: Trust Index 01 Strongly agree - 05 Strongly disagree Political efficacy: People like me don't have any say about what the government does 01 Strongly agree - 05 Strongly disagree Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden Mean 2.98 2.04 2.77 2.67 2.84 Mean 3.18 2.54 3.13 3.20 3.12 Voluntary work: Per cent In the last 12 months Never 55,9 72,3 56,3 42,7 63,8 Health: In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor? Excellent or very good Per cent 61,8 27,2 43,5 52,3 55,3 5
Social trust To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? a. There are only a few people you can trust completely b. If you are not careful, other people will take advantage of you. Answers: from 01-Strongly agree to 05-Strongly disagree. 6
Reading skills and general social trust 310 300 290 Literacy average score 280 270 260 250 240 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden General social trust 7
Numeracy skills and general social trust 310 300 290 Numeracy average score 280 270 260 250 240 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden General social trust 8
Problem solving skills and general social trust 310 300 290 Problem-solving average score 280 270 260 250 240 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden General social trust 9
General social trust and skills 1. by increasing social trust we find higher average skill scores for all three skills 1. only respondents with extremely high scores in social trust (score 4.5 or 5.0) in average have a little lower proficiency than respondents with a little less high score in social trust (score 4.0) particularly in Estonia. 2. strong relation between education and trust. In addition it is a significant independent connection between literacy and social trust in all countries. 10
Volunteering In the last 12 months, how often, if at all, did you do voluntary work, including unpaid work for a charity, political party, trade union or other non-profit organisation? 1. Never 2. Less than once a month, 3. Less than once a week but at least once a month 4. At least once a week but not every day 5. Every day 11
Reading skills and volunteering 300 Literacy average score. 295 290 285 280 275 270 265 260 255 250 Never Less than once a month Less than once a week but at least once a month At least once a week but not every day Every day Voluntary work Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 12
Numeracy skills and volunteering 300 Numeracy average score. 295 290 285 280 275 270 265 260 255 250 Never Less than once a month Less than once a week but at least once a month At least once a week but not every day Every day Voluntary work Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 13
Problem solving skills and volunteering 310 Problem-solving average score. 300 290 280 270 260 250 Never Less than once a month Less than once a week but at least once a month At least once a week but not every day Every day Voluntary work Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 14
Volunteering and skills 1. Never voluntary is associated with low skills. But, it is only in Norway a linear relation between skills and frequency of volunteering. In Denmark and Sweden it is the groups doing voluntary work less than once a week. In Estonia it is volunteering less than once a month that have the highest levels of skill scores. 2. as with social trust, skills in literacy have a significant connection with participation in voluntary work even when other factors are taken into consideration 15
Political efficacy Or sense of influence on the political process To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? People like me don't have any say about what the government does. Answers: from 01-Strongly agree to 05-Strongly disagree. 16
Reading skills and political efficacy 310 300 290 Literacy average score. 280 270 260 250 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Strongly agree Strongly disagree People like me don't have any say about what the government does Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 17
Numeracy skills and political efficacy 300 295 290 285 Numeracy average score. 280 275 270 265 260 255 250 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Strongly agree Strongly disagree People like me don't have any say about what the government does Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 18
Problem solving skills and political efficacy 300 295 290 285 Problem-solving average score. 280 275 270 265 260 255 250 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Strongly agree Strongly disagree People like me don't have any say about what the government does Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 19
Political efficacy and skills 1. average skill scores are increasing with the sense of having influence on the political process 2. but the groups that most strongly disagree in the statement are scoring a little lower than the groups with a little less strong disagreement (Apart from Estonia) 3. it is a significant relation in all five countries between skills in literacy and the sense of political influence even when other factors are taken into consideration 20
Self assessed health In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor? 1. Excellent 2. Very good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 21
Reading skills and self assessed health 310 Literacy average score. 300 290 280 270 260 250 240 230 Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor Voluntary work In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor? Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 22
Numeracy skills and self assessed health 300 Numeracy average score. 290 280 270 260 250 240 230 Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor? Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 23
Problem solving skills and self assessed health 310 Problem-solving average score. 300 290 280 270 260 250 240 230 Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor? Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden 24
Self assessed health and skills 1. strong relation between health and skills in all the five countries and for all three basic skills 2. only the upper end of the health assessment scale is not scoring any higher in skills proficiency than the group assessing their health as being very good 3. even when other factors are taken into consideration it is a separate significant correlation between literacy skills and self reported health. 25
Overall conclusion Relations between indicators of social outcomes and skills are very strong in all the five countries. Also the Nordic countries are very similar when looking at the distribution on the four dimensions. Only Estonia separates out some. 26
Thank you 27