A Study on the Development of Indicators of Social Trends Monitoring

Abstract

This study develops trend indicators in key social policy areas to better respond to social, economic, and institutional changes, with the aim of bringing qualitative improvements to periodic analyzes of social policy performance and trends. To this end, we selected the concept of 'social wage'―an indicator designed to comprehensively measure the performance of the welfare state and its impact on people's lives as a whole. We examined both how the social wage can be measured and how it can be applied in practice. In particular, we conducted actual measurements of social wages, drawing on existing debates and definitions. Our trend analysis focused on performance indicators across several domains: healthcare (life expectancy and life expectancy at birth), income and housing (average household income), social services (long-term care payment rates), population (per capita and demographics), and overall social security. We analyzed these indicators by policy area, population subgroup, and life-cycle stage. Building on prior research, we centered our analysis on key indicators within each major social policy area and assessed the feasibility of using the social wage as a central measure of the welfare state’s performance and impact.