Rising social justice in EU approaches pre-crisis levels

Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-16 22:19:54|Editor: pengying
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BERLIN, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Social justice is on the rise in the European Union (EU) again after a long trend of decline since 2008, a study released on Thursday by the German Bertelsmann Foundation said.

The average score of the 28 member states considered in the EU Social Justice Index (SJI) rose to 5.85 points in 2017. Whilst still below the 6.02 level of 2008, the figure marked the first gains recorded by the foundation in four years.

The Gutersloh-based think tank publishes the closely watched SJI each year based on six dimensions -- poverty, education, the labor market, health, intergenerational equity, and social cohesion and non-discrimination. These indicators further encompass 38 individual socio-economic criteria.

The 2017 SJI, seen by Xinhua prior to its publication, suggests that opportunities for social participation in the EU measured by related parameters are finally improving again after experiencing a "nosedive" in the wake of the 2008 financial and economic crisis.

"Europe is recovering, not only economically but also in the domain of social justice," the foundation said in a statement.

According to the study authors, this positive development was mainly underpinned by a strong recovery of labor markets across the bloc.

As the pace of the economic recovery in Europe quickens, EU average unemployment has fallen from 11 percent in 2013 to 8.7 percent in 2016. Employment rates have risen simultaneously, with two-thirds or 66.6 percent of EU citizens who are able to work having an occupation in 2016.

However, the Bertelsmann Foundation warned that the North-South discrepancies in outcomes remained "substantial".

Countries such as Greece which were particularly hard-hit by the crisis continue to record a proportion of children and young people at risk of poverty and exclusion, which is far above the EU average.

Furthermore, even though unemployment has also fallen in Greece from 27.7 percent in 2013 to 23.7 in 2016, and in Spain from 26.2 percent in 2013 to 19.7 percent in 2016, the share of the population out of work was still worryingly high in several southern European countries.

By stark contrast, Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Finland, and Central European countries including Germany, the Netherlands and Austria performed well across most of the SJI's six dimensions.

The highest overall national SJI score was Denmark's at 7.39, followed closely by Sweden at 7.31, and Finland at 7.14. Bulgaria at 4.19, Romania at 3.99 and Greece at 3.7 came last in the EU comparison.

In the category of youth unemployment, Germany recorded the lowest rate at 7.1 percent while Greece was at the rear with 47.3 percent.

Although the high nominal youth unemployment in southern European countries like Greece and Spain was lower when taking into account individuals in education or some form of jobs training, the highly unequal outcomes apparent in the 2017 SJI led Bertelsmann Foundation Chairman Aart de Geus to urge EU leaders to ensure that "everyone benefits from the upward trend."

"Young people in particular must not be abandoned" De Geus added.

As a consequence of the positive employment trend, the risk of poverty and social exclusion has fallen as measured in this year's SJI. Whereas24.7 percent of the EU population was at risk of poverty at the height of the economic crisis in 2012/2013, the latest index suggests that the figure is now somewhat falling to 23.4 percent.

Here again, however, Greece (35.6 percent), Spain (27.9 percent), and Italy (26.5 percent) trailed far behind the likes of Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic, which were at the top of the table with figures between 16.7 and 13.3 percent.

Nevertheless, the study authors voiced optimism that the gap between northern and southern Europe would continue to narrow in the future if the ongoing recovery across EU labor markets persisted.

Education opportunities measured by the EU SJI have also improved in the majority of member states compared with several years ago. For instance, the proportion of students leaving school with no qualifications has fallen throughout the bloc from 14.7 percent in 2008 to 10.7 percent in 2016.

Despite this positive overall trajectory, the study authors criticized "disturbing" developments in a number of eastern European states.

"We are seeing the right-wing populist governments in Hungary and Poland in particular making far-reaching changes to the education system and thereby reversing past achievements," said a statement by Daniel Schraad-Tischler, senior project manager at the Bertelsmann Foundation, read.

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