Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada Indice de progrиs vйritable - Atlantique SOCIAL EXCLUSION & INCLUSION in PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Charlottetown, 21 February, 2003

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Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice
de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueSOCIAL
EXCLUSION INCLUSIONin PRINCE EDWARD
ISLANDCharlottetown, 21 February, 2003

• Prepared for

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Inter-generational social inclusion What kind of
world are we leaving our children?
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Brundtland Commission's seminal definition

• Sustainable development is development that
  meets the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs....This implies a concern
  for social equity between generations, a concern
  that must logically be extended to equity within
  each generation.
• World Commission on Environment and Development
  (Brundtland Commission), 1987. Our Common Future,
  Oxford University Press, New York.

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Statistics Canada

• A consensus has emerged that sustainable
  development refers at once to economic, social
  and environmental needs.... A clear social
  objective that falls out of the definition (of
  sustainable development) is that of equity, both
  among members of the present generation and
  between the present and future generations.
  Statistics Canada, Econnections
  1997

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What kind of world are we leaving our children?

• Canadas premier quality of life, Nova Scotias
  QOL
• More possessions, longer lives
• But, some disturbing signs

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Warning Signals

• Higher stress rates, obesity, childhood asthma
• Insecurity - job, debt, safety
• Greater inequality and more child poverty
• Decline of volunteerism
• Natural resource depletion, species loss
• Global warming

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Sending the Wrong Messages Growth stats more is
better

• But anything (crime, sickness, pollution,
  disasters, resource depletion, stress) can make
  economy grow - better off?
• GDP can grow as poverty, inequality grow
• Ignores work that contributes directly to
  wellbeing (volunteers, work in home).

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Indicators are Powerful

• What we measure
• reflects what we value as a society
• determines policy agenda
• influences behaviour (eg students)
• We need measures of progress that count vital
  social assets like health, equity

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Valuing Equity TrendsAverage Disposable
Household Income, 1980-98
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PEI most equitable province

• Lowest rates of low income for men (7.6), women
  (8.3), and children(6.6) in Canada (9.9,
  11.9, 12.5 respectively)
• PEI has smallest income gap between richest and
  poorest 20 and rp 40 smallest Gini
  coefficient (over all incomes)
• PEI has smallest gender wage gap (PEI women earn
  94.3c to male 1, cf 80.7c Can
• PEI single moms 2nd highest wage in Can

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Prevalence of Low income-women and men -1997
2000
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Income Female lone-parent families - 1997
2000
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Income Gender Wage gap
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Change in Wage Gap- 1998-2001 - Ratio of Female
to Male Hourly wages
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Regional exclusion(Mike Harris and the
lottery)

• Income gap between rich and poor provinces grew
  in 1990s.
• 1990 Atlantic Canadians had 81c for 1 in
  Ontario. 1998 75c for 1 in Ontario
• But Ontario gain due to 9,400 household gain for
  richest 20 to 97,170 disposable income. Poor
  and middle income Ontarians lost real income.

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Other Forms of Exclusion

• From social benefits Middle, higher income
  Canadians get more cash transfers - Transfers to
  poorest down 15 since 1990.
• Gender Except PEI 20 less per hour 11-15 less
  adjusted for 14 factors. More women live below
  LICO than men.
• Single-parent families and children have higher
  rates of low income.

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Clustered disadvantages Social exclusion

• Low income, unemployment, illiteracy, health
  justice problems....
• Marginalized groups at risk include Single
  mothers, children, youth, unemployed,
  Aboriginals, migrants, minorities, disabled,
  homeless
• Inclusion success 1980s - elderly

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(No Transcript)
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HRDC Index of Social Health

• 15 components - including trends in poverty,
  child abuse, infant mortality, teen suicide, drug
  abuse, high school dropouts, crime,
  alcohol-related fatalities, affordable housingm
  etc.
• Decline in all provinces since early 1980s
  Newfoundland down 5 NB down 8 PEI down
  15 NS down 21

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Ignoring social development means the full costs
of

• ill health
• illiteracy
• poverty, unemployment
• crime
• ..crowd out investment, and undermine economic
  development.

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Full cost accounting shows

• Unemployment, poverty, inequality, poor education
  bring
• higher stress, risk factors, costs of health
  care, crime (competing resources)
• loss of innovation potential.by waste of
  precious human assets (C. Leadbetter, et al
  Livingstone, 1998)

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E.g. Health costs of poverty and inequality

• Low income women 15-39 62 more likely to be
  hospitalized than high income women
• Low-income men age 15-39 are 46 more likely to
  be hospitalized
• For age 40-64 men 57, women 92

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excess use of physicians

• No high school diploma use 49 more physician
  services than those with BA
• Lower income groups use 43 more than higher
  income lower middle 33 more
• In NS excess physician use due to educational
  inequality 42.2 M./yr excess use due to
  income inequality 27.5 M./yr small total
  health costs

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heart health costs

• Low income groups have higher risk smoking,
  obesity, physical inactivity, cardiovascular risk
  costly
• NS could avoid 200 deaths, 124 million per year
  if all Nova Scotians were as heart healthy as
  higher income groups

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overall health status

• Poverty is the most reliable predictor of poor
  health, premature death, disability
• Low income groups are 4x more likely to report
  fair or poor health costly

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delayed child development

• 31 indicators - as family income falls, children
  have more health problems, (NLSCY, NPHS,
  Statistics Canada)
• Child poverty -gt higher rates respiratory
  illness, obesity, high blood lead, iron
  deficiency, FAS, LBW, SIDS, delayed vocabulary
  development, injury.

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health of single mothers

• Worse health status than married (NPHS) higher
  rates chronic illness, disability days, activity
  restrictions
• 3x health care practitioner use for mental,
  emotional reasons costly
• Long-term single mothers have particularly poor
  health

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Health Cost of Inequality

• British Medical Journal What matters in
  determining mortality and health is less the
  overall wealth of the society and more how evenly
  wealth is distributed. The more equally wealth is
  distributed, the better the health of that
  society.

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Socioeconomic determinants costs of crime...

• 42 NS prison inmates have less than Grade 10
  education (cf 19 population)
• Aboriginals jailed at 4 times pop. rate
• 67 unemployed at time of admission (5x
  population rate) Costly
• 44,165 inmate/year cf 3-year university
  tuition, room, board 35,000

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Crime and Unemployment Robberies, Canada and
Nova Scotia, 1962 1997 (per 100,000 pop)
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Robbery and the Unemployment rate (1962 1997
Average Rates by Decade)
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Social Inclusion is Cost-Effective -gt Savings

• High rates of health service, justice usage are
  costly to taxpayers.
• Reducing poverty among most vulnerable groups
  cost savings to health care system
• Single mothers, minorities, etc - highest poverty
  rates so adequate social supports for these
  groups highly cost-effective

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Promoting Social Inclusion eg GPI CAP-Site
Survey

• Strengthening communities, enhancing
  communication, reducing isolation
• Promoting equity through access to disadvantaged
  groups
• Youth-senior interaction and learning
• Employment, education, training opportunities

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Social Inclusion in Policy

• Eg2 ACOA seminar (Feb) and principles CED, loan
  provision, entrepreneurship, are inclusive by
  nature support for FRAM, BBI, ABSN, CEED, Women
  in Business, Youth Entrepreneurs, etc.
• Social Inclusion initiatives feel right, but do
  they help economic development?

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Social Strengths are Economic Strengths

• Retention of knowledge-based industry skilled
  employees requires focus on Quality of Life.
• Industry ranks QOL factors
• 1st Low crime rate 2nd Health
  facilities
• 3rd Housing costs 4th Housing
  availability
• 5th Public school rating
• (Area Development Magazine - 2001 Corporate
  Surveys)

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Atlantic Canadas Social Capital Advantage
e.g.Serious Violent Crimes, NS, Canada, USA,
93-97
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Social Capital is Valuable

• PEI volunteer service hours per capita highest
  in Canada (53.3 hours cf 34.2 in Can.)
• Provides valuable training saves government
  expense helps school-to-work transition
• Declined by 6.3 in Canada 1997-2000 in hours per
  capita, increased by 50 in PEI (largest increase
  in country)

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Social SupportsVolunteerism - a saving grace

• Health Canada uses volunteerism as a key
  indicator of a supportive social environment
  that can enhance health.
• All four Atlantic provinces highest rates of
  volunteer work in the country.
• More women than men volunteer
• Across Canada (except PEI), volunteerism rests on
  narrower, more fragile base - fewer volunteers -
  longer hours

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Volunteerism Atlantic Provinces lead (formal
rate)
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But volunteerism has declined nationally
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Income Distribution, Intellectual Capital, and
Economic Growth

• Evidence shows greater equality of income brings
  positive effect on economic growth. Contrasts
  with old theory of Efficiency/ Equity tradeoff.
• Policies that re-distribute income so poor
  children get post-secondary education ... have
  proven to be growth enhancing. A. Sharpe, 2001
• Children deprived in first 3 years of life suffer
  permanent negative consequences. (Mustard,
  Sharpe, et al)

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Income distribution and innovation.

• High levels of productivity and per capita
  output are consistent with low levels of income
  inequality. Altman, 2001
• Raising the human capital of those at the top of
  the skill base at the expense of those at the
  bottom reduces profitability when implementing
  new technologies. -H. Lloyd -Ellis, 2001
• Distribution of human capital investment across
  all skill levels supports invention, adoption,
  and implementation of technology.

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Netherlands /Canada

• Netherlands 1,370 paid work hours / year
  Canada 1,732 paid work hours / year
• Netherlands Part-time law equal hourly pay,
  pro-rated benefits, equal promotion opportunity
• Netherlands unemployment 12.2 gt 2.7
  Highest rate of
  part-time in OECD
  Involuntary part-time 6 1/6 Atlantic rate
  High hourly productivity

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Work Sharing alternative to layoffs in tough
times

• Direct cost savings through reduced EI, SA,
  severance payments, maintaining tax base
• Indirect savings - lower health, social costs
• Retains valuable workplace skills
• Reduces stress, improves work-life-family balance

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To Integrate Social and Economic Development
Policy

• Measure full cost and value of both, account for
  depreciation of human and social capital, assess
  needs for reinvestment (vs label as cost)
• Equity, inclusion as explicit goal, assigned
  portfolio, responsibility
• Economic advantage, NS strength