OECD WORK ON SOCIAL

PROTECTION
Asia-Pacific Social Protection Week, Session 6: Capacity
Building for Monitoring Social Protection Programmes
Tools and Indicators.
August 3 2016, Manila
Willem Adema, D.Phil
Senior Economist, OECD Social Policy Division
DISCLAIMER: This presentation does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB or the Government
concerned, and ADB and the Government cannot be held liable for its contents.

OECD work on social protection - tools and indicators

OECD social data cover a wide range of items, including:

Social Expenditure,
Social Benefit Recipients,
Tax and Benefit systems,
Income Inequality and Poverty,
Families and Children

Gender,
Pensions
Labour market programmes
Health and
Affordable Housing (in 2017)

How to build cross-national datasets with comparable indicators?

The art of developing indicators for policy analysis: illustrating good
practice, prompting change where needed.
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OECD work on social protection - outreach

Focus on Asia/Pacific with the OECD Korea Policy Centre in Seoul:
Health, Pensions and Society at a Glance Asia/Pacific series
Social expenditure and health accounting technical papers
Quality of health-care survey (2015)
Work on Family and Child indicators (to start in 2017)
OECD Development Centre, Finlands National Institute for Health and
Welfare implementing the EU Social Protection System Programme to
support low and middle income countries building sustainable and
inclusive social protection systems.
Work in 10 partner countries in Africa and Asia, including Indonesia and
Viet Nam.
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Developing cross-nationally comparable social datasets

A common methodology: defining concepts, expert meetings, training
programmes and many bilateral exchanges with national
correspondents
Collecting social statistics based on administrative data is often more
complicated than in other areas as it potentially involves many different
agencies (e.g. Social Insurance, Health, Welfare and Tax) at different
levels of government each potentially with their own sources and
methods.
The different sources and methods necessitate careful use and
interpretation of indicators.
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Comprehensive social systems were developed over a

long period of time
Public social spending in selected OECD countries, per cent of GDP, 1960-2016

Note: Social spending aggregates based on detailed data for 1960-2013/14; national aggregates for 2014-2015 and estimates for 2016
Source: OECD (2016), OECD Social Expenditure database, (www.oecd.org/social/expenditure.htm ).

Tax systems and reliance on the private sector to provide

protection can affect real social spending levels across
countries
Gross public and total net social spending, as a percent of GDP, 2013

Source: OECD (2016), Social Expenditure (SOCX) via www.oecd.org/social/expenditure.htm

Public social spending reduces poverty, especially if

systems are effective in getting support to low-income
households
Panel A: Public social
expenditure and poverty rate

Panel B: Does social support reach

low-income households?
Percentage of public social benefits in cash paid to the lowest
quintiles and social expenditures as % GDP, working age population

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=world-development-indicators, as in August

2015. ILO The World Social Protection Report 2014-15, http://www.social-protection.org/gimi/gess/ShowTheme.action?th.themeId=3985, ADB staff
estimates based on country reports Social Protection Indicator, 2015, World Health Organisation Database (WHO), OECD (2014), Social Expenditure database,
(www.oecd.org/social/expenditure.htm) and OECD Income Distribution Database (IDD, http://oecd/idd ).
Panel B: Data refer to current transfers received from public social security.

Coverage of social insurance systems is a major

challenge in many countries
Pension coverage in selected countries, 2014
Per cent of the labour force

Per cent of the population aged 15-64

China
Hong Kong, China
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Viet Nam
100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Source: OECD (2016) Pensions at a Glance Asia/Pacific (forthcoming)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

There are gaps in public investment in children,

especially when they are very young
Public expenditure on family benefits and education, by type of spending and age of child, USD PPP per capita, selected countries
France
Education

Other benefits in kind+ALMP

Netherlands
Childcare

Education

Cash benefits and tax breaks

PPP per capita (USD)

PPP per capita (USD)

25000

25000

20000

20000

15000

15000

10000

10000

5000

5000

Sweden
Education

Other benefits in kind+ALMP

Childcare

Other benefits in kind+ALMP

Childcare

Cash benefits and tax breaks

OECD average
Education

Cash benefits and tax breaks

PPP per capita (USD)

PPP per capita (USD)

25000

25000

20000

20000

15000

15000

10000

10000

5000

5000

Note: data for the Netherlands includes mandatory private expenditure on maternity and paternity leave (under cash benefits and tax breaks)
Source: OECD Social Expenditure Database and OECD Family Database

Other benefits in kind+ALMP

Childcare

Cash benefits and tax breaks

Concluding remarks

Developing social statistics is often complicated as it involves

many different agencies, sources and methods.
Capacity building is key to developing cross-nationally
comparable quality indicators

These quality indicators are crucial to meaningful international

comparisons that can illustrate policy challenges
and contribute to the exchange of good policy practices
and social policy development.
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Further information
OECD Social Policies
http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/
OECD Social Expenditure Database
www.oecd.org/social/expenditure.htm
OECD Korea Policy Centre
http://www.oecdkorea.org/home/homeIndex.do?menuCode=engsite
OECD Society at a Glance Asia/Pacific
http://www.oecd.org/social/society-at-a-glance-asia-pacific-24089168.htm
OECD Gender Data Portal
www.oecd.org/gender
OECD Pensions at a Glance Asia/Pacific
http://www.oecd.org/publications/pensions-at-a-glance-asia-pacific-23090766.htm

@OECD_Social
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