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 Addressing Inequalities in Social and Economic OutcomesAddressing Inequalities in Social and Economic Outcomes A vivid description of economic inequality in Britain was published on January 27th 2010. “The Report of the National Equality Panel” describes how inequalities in people’s economic outcomes (e.g. their earnings, income, wealth) are related to their characteristics and circumstances (e.g. the social class into which they are born, gender, ethno-religious group). Fquared’s recent work has anticipated these findings. • Any organisation whose work impacts on communities must have pro-active, holistic and appropriate approach to ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion, so that individuals benefit equally and no-one is disadvantage. • When seeking to improve one social or economic measure, wider issues have to be understood and addressed. For example, Building Schools for the Future’s ambition for educational transformation is most effectively achieved when action is taken to address wider issues in the communities in which those schools are being built. • The public sector, its partners and supply chains can and should squeeze maximum social value out of all their activities, so that social divides will not increase as budgets are tightened. FSquared continues to support public, private and third sector organisations to achieve social and business value by addressing all these complex issues. The overall picture portrayed in “The Report of the National Equality Panel” is complex. The robust data and analysis included, however, demonstrates some very clear findings; • Income inequality is significantly higher in Britain than in most other European and industrialised countries. • There are entrenched differences in economic outcomes between social groups. It is clearly very difficult for people to fulfil their potential when they have very limited resources on which to draw. • These differences in economic outcomes accumulate over lifetimes. For example; o Every extra £100 in household income results when children are small is associated with a difference equivalent to a month’s development. o Children with a higher social class background who start with a lower assessment of relative cognitive ability when young eventually overtake children from a lower social class but higher initial relative cognitive ability. o Children who have free school meals (i.e. who are from economically disadvantaged families) are less likely to go on to higher education than children from higher social groups with the same GCSE results o Upon retirement, the wealth of the poorest 10% of the population is £8,800 or less. The wealth of the top 10% is above £853,000. • There are significant differences in the economic outcomes of different ethnic groups. Some groups are significantly more successful in terms of qualification, income, wealth etc than others. Differences are smaller for the children of migrants (‘the second generation’) than for first generation migrants. • It is more valuable to look at differences between ethno-religious group (i.e. ethnicity and religion) rather than differences in ethnic groups alone. • The pay gap between men and women remains; despite women increasingly becoming better qualified than men. • There is a ‘pay penalty’ on people who have a disability compared to those who do not. The full report, along with a Summary and Executive Summary can be accessed at http://www.equalities.gov.uk/national_equality_panel/publications.aspx |