09-06-2015 TITEL 1
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
09-06-2015 TITEL 2
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
09-06-2015 TITEL 3
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.
09-06-2015 TITEL 4
Social “outcomes”
We are talking about social
“outcomes” of the skills
although it is not possible to say
anything about causality
09-06-2015 TITEL 5
Social outcomes
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden Trust in others:
Trust Index 01 Strongly agree - 05
Strongly disagree Mean 2.98 2.04 2.77 2.67 2.84
Political efficacy:
People like me don't have any say about what the government does
01 Strongly agree - 05
Strongly disagree 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: Per cent
In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?
Excellent or very
09-06-2015 TITEL 6
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”.
09-06-2015 TITEL 7
Reading skills and general social trust
240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Li ter ac y aver ag e s co re
09-06-2015 TITEL 8
Numeracy skills and general social trust
240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 N um er ac y aver ag e sc or e
09-06-2015 TITEL 9
Problem solving skills and general social
trust
240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 P ro bl em -s ol vi ng a ver ag e s co re
09-06-2015 TITEL 10
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.
09-06-2015 TITEL 11
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
09-06-2015 TITEL 12
Reading skills and volunteering
250 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 295 300
Never Less than once a month Less than once a week but at least
once a month At least once a week but not everyday Every day
Li ter ac y a ver ag e s co re .
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
09-06-2015 TITEL 13
Numeracy skills and volunteering
250 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 295 300
Never Less than once a month Less than once a week but at least
once a month At least once a week but not everyday Every day
N um er ac y a ve ra ge sc or e.
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
09-06-2015 TITEL 14
Problem solving skills and volunteering
250 260 270 280 290 300 310
Never Less than once a month Less than once a week but at least
once a month At least once a week but not everyday Every day
P ro ble m -s olv in g a ver ag e s co re .
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
09-06-2015 TITEL 15
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
09-06-2015 TITEL 16
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”.
09-06-2015 TITEL 17
Reading skills and political efficacy
250 260 270 280 290 300 310 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Li tera cy a vera ge s co re.
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
People like me don't have any say about what the government does
09-06-2015 TITEL 18
Numeracy skills and political efficacy
250 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 295 300 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 N um era cy a vera ge sc ore.
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
People like me don't have any say about what the government does
09-06-2015 TITEL 19
Problem solving skills and political efficacy
250 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 295 300 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 P rob le m -s ol vin g av er age s co re .
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
People like me don't have any say about what the government does
Strongly agree Strongly disagree
People like me don't have any say about what the government does
09-06-2015 TITEL 20
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
09-06-2015 TITEL 21
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
09-06-2015 TITEL 22
Reading skills and self assessed health
230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310
Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor
Li ter ac y a ver ag e s co re .
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
09-06-2015 TITEL 23
Numeracy skills and self assessed health
230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300
Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor
N um er ac y a ve ra ge sc or e.
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
09-06-2015 TITEL 24
Problem solving skills and self assessed health
230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310
Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor
P ro ble m -s olv in g a ver ag e s co re .
Denmark Estonia Finland Norway Sweden
09-06-2015 TITEL 25
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.
09-06-2015 TITEL 26
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
09-06-2015 TITEL 27