Report on Social Vulnerability Indicators. Analytical Framework and Methodological Considerations
This report was written for the RE-InVEST project ‑ Rebuilding an Inclusive, Value-Based Europe of Solidarity and Trust through Social Investments ‑ part of a European H2020 project designed to evaluate the European Commission's 2013 social investment strategy and offer new insights to inform public policymaking in response to the social damage done by the crisis. The RE-InVEST project started its work by assessing the social damage caused by the crisis in the project's 13 European partner countries and regions through the lens of human rights and capabilities. All the country analyses were conducted locally by 19 European institutional partners from civil society (NGOs, trade unions, etc.) and a range of academic and research institutions. They focused in particular on clearly identifying the vulnerable groups hardest hit by the crisis. This report presents information on the indicators that can be used to observe, assess and monitor people's levels of vulnerability, especially the categories that have borne the brunt of the social damage caused by the 2008 financial crisis and the following decade's austerity policies. The crisis started in the United States in 2007-2008, triggered by households and financial institutions in debt overload (housing and oil prices). It spread to Europe through the banking sector a few weeks later, forcing national governments to intervene directly and add to their own debt. Austerity policies were subsequently put in place to reduce this public debt, with budget cuts made in public spending. The harsh socio-economic impacts of these measures and corresponding rise in unemployment in the manufacturing sector hit people hard. Standards of living plummeted in the face of rising unemployment and the need to find new work, for employment is a cornerstone of self-respect and social recognition. The loss of that recognition increases people's sense of vulnerability (Nicaise, 2017b). A specialised methodology was developed to address this issue taking a bottom-up approach. Called ...