Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Wellbeing: an economy that works for children?

Reka Tunyogi 10th October 2019

A Child Guarantee can be a second launchpad for investing in children.

Child Guarantee
Reka Tunyogi

The ‘economy of wellbeing’ is a bright new narrative which the Finnish EU presidency is championing, to frame the interplay between economic and social policies. It is refreshing to see such a shift in understanding of the economy, with government officials contending that ‘investing in well-being makes sense in economic terms even in times of economic downturn’. Will children across Europe benefit from this shift?

We cannot break the cycle of disadvantage without addressing the daily realities of children growing up in poverty. Well-being and social inclusion are two sides of the same coin. Research confirms that spending on childhood and on family-support policies and services reaps benefits for society in the long-term. If families in need are supported, then inequalities—such as in malnutrition and school dropout rates—can be pre-emptively reduced in early childhood.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development argues that the four most important components of the economy of wellbeing are health, education, social protection and gender equality. Certainly, children are directly affected by policies in all these domains.

Expenditure as investment

This rethinking of expenditure as investment was spurred on by the European Commission’s 2013 ‘Recommendation on Investing in Children’, aimed at guiding national strategies to reduce child poverty. Despite the commitment to move ahead on children’s wellbeing, however, progress has been meagre. Few EU countries have comprehensive strategies for reducing child poverty and the amount of EU resources spent on this priority is not tracked.

Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content.


We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Thank you!

Please check your inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email to complete your newsletter subscription.

.

Identifying the scale of the problem is not the issue. The EU has a broad ‘at risk of poverty or social exclusion’ indicator, divided by age groups. This now has a companion to assess children’s material deprivation based on lack of child-specific ‘items’, such as ability to go on school trips or have a space to do homework.

This is a good first step—if only it were used to nudge member states to take this on as a political priority. The Child Guarantee—an initiative put forward by the European Parliament to support the most disadvantaged children through the EU’s social fund—might do just that. Without national strategies to tackle child poverty, however, it will only be a drop in the ocean.

Umbrella strategy

A high-level event in Finland in mid-September sought to do more than create a buzz around a concept. It was an attempt to reshape the work of the incoming European Commission on the next umbrella strategy steering macroeconomic co-ordination for the coming decade.

The Europe 2020 strategy expires soon and its targets, one of which is to lift at least 20 million people out of poverty, have lost traction along the way. The new social framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights, collectively supported by EU leaders and institutions in 2017, is assumed to guide the social dimension of the union. The next commission in fact promises to come up with an action plan to realise the pillar.

The European Semester—the EU framework to monitor national policies on a range of issues from social to fiscal measures—will remain the instrument to encourage policies prioritising wellbeing to achieve sustainable economic growth and stability. The UN Sustainable Development Goals will in turn be important for steering the overall direction for the next ten years.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

Social returns

Days before the Finnish EU conference, social NGOs met decision-makers to share their perspectives. Eurochild underlined the social and economic returns of investing in the prevention and reduction of child poverty. It expressed hope that the incoming European Commission would take a more prominent stand, given the commitment by the president-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, to introduce a European Child Guarantee.

During the two-day event, prioritising children in the economy of wellbeing was supported by not only the Finnish but also the future Croatian EU presidency, as by the commission and the Fundamental Rights Agency. More national political ownership and action are needed to improve children’s wellbeing. With a boost to the Investing in Children framework, along with EU financial support to address child poverty through the Child Guarantee, we have a greater chance to improve the lives of the nearly 24 million children living in poverty across the union.

The growing recognition of social wellbeing in economic decision-making is positive. Next year, Eurochild’s flagship conference will be hosted in Finland by the Central Union for Child Welfare, where decision-makers, civil society actors and children themselves will gather to discover Finland’s child policies. Perhaps the Finnish EU presidency can leave a lasting impact on a Europe 2030 strategy that foresees an economy working for people—not vice versa.

Reka Tunyogi

Reka Tunyogi is head of advocacy at Eurochild.

Home ・ Politics ・ Wellbeing: an economy that works for children?

Most Popular Posts

Boris Johnson, Brexit, Conservative,conservatism Boris Johnson: blustering onPaul Mason
deglobalisation,deglobalization,Davos Getting deglobalisation rightJoseph Stiglitz
schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling
world order,Russia,China,Europe,United States,US The coming world orderMarc Saxer
south working,remote work ‘South working’: the future of remote workAntonio Aloisi and Luisa Corazza

Most Recent Posts

public services,public service,women,public service workers Public services should not be the victims of inflationIrene Ovonji-Odida
gdp,gross domestic product Let’s count what really mattersJayati Ghosh
green transition,just transition,fossil fuel,energy transition,Ukraine,Russia Ukraine and the geopolitics of the energy transitionBéla Galgóczi and Paolo Tomassetti
energy,efficiency,generation,solar,price,inflation From subsidising energy to reducing dependenceHans Dubois
SPO,Rendi-Wagner,Austria,social democratic,social democrat,social democracy A social-democratic decade ahead?Robert Misik

Other Social Europe Publications

National recovery and resilience plans
The transatlantic relationship
Women and the coronavirus crisis
RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020

ETUI advertisement

ETUI/ETUC conference: A Blueprint for Equality

Join us at the three-day hybrid conference ‘A blueprint for equality’ (22-24 June).

The case against inequality has already been strongly articulated. Inequality is not just incidental to a particular crisis but a structural problem created by an economic model. Now is the time to explore what real equality should look like.

As a media partner of this event, Social Europe is delighted to invite you to this three-day conference, organised by the ETUI and ETUC. More than 90 speakers from the academic world, international organisations, trade unions and NGOs will participate, including the economist Thomas Piketty and the European commissioner Nicolas Schmit.


MORE INFOMATION HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Minimum wages in 2022: annual review

Nominal minimum wage rates rose significantly in 2022, compared with 2021. In 20 of the 21 European Union member states with statutory minimum wages, rates increased. When inflation is taken into account, however, the minimum wage increased in real terms in only six member states. If current inflation trends continue, minimum wages will barely grow at all in real terms in any country in 2022.


AVAILABLE HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us on social media

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube