Three ways a well-being lens can aid COVID-19 recovery Lara Fleischer (lara.fleischer@oecd.org), Statistics and Data Directorate, OECD
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t the beginning of March, the OECD launch of How’s Life?) wrote recently: “The questions launched its flagship report How’s Life? about what matters to us; what we value now and in 2020, which draws on over 80 indicators the future; what our governments measure, balance to track whether life is getting better for and prioritise; what evidence informs this decisionpeople in 37 OECD countries and 4 partner making, and how much say we have in that process, countries (Figure 1). Since then, the world as we know it are immediate and urgent. The answers are going to has changed dramatically, with a global pandemic that matter a great deal in the days, months and years ahead” has claimed close to 400 000 lives so far, and brought (Davidson, 20201). There are at least three ways in which about huge shifts in the way we live. While How’s Life? a well-being lens can help governments in the recovery 2020 pointed to slow progress in some areas of wellphases of COVID-19: being and persistent inequalities, it also highlighted many positive developments since 2010: life expectancy across First: Identify pre-existing vulnerabilities to target support OECD countries increased by more than one year, and between 2010 and 2017, household disposable income has shown an increase by 6 percent, while employment The short- and medium-term impacts of COVID-19 rates rose by approximately 5 percentage points. In increase the vulnerability of the most disadvantaged the latest year on record, almost eight out of every ten and risk compounding socio-economic divides. These adults in the OECD had a vulnerabilities stretch across Figure 1. The OECD Well-being Framework paid job, and the average most of the 11 dimensions of CURRENT WELL-BEING annual household income current well-being in How’s Key dimensions How we measure them was approximately USD Life? 2020 (Figure 2). For Subjective Well-being Income and Wealth 28,000. Surveys also instance, life was already = + suggested that people in financially precarious in Safety Work and Job Quality Averages Inequalities between 2018 were more satisfied many places before COVIDHousing Work-life Balance groups with their lives relative to 19 hit: in 2018, 12% of the Health Social Connections how they felt in 2013. Many population across OECD Knowledge and Skills Civil Engagement Inequalities between Deprivations of these well-being gains, countries lived in relative top and bottom Environment Quality performers long awaited after the 2008 income poverty, while the financial crisis, are likely to share of those reporting RESOURCES FOR FUTURE WELL-BEING Key dimensions How we measure them have now been wiped out, difficulties making ends as economies have come meet in European OECD Stocks Flows Human Capital Natural Capital to a halt worldwide and countries was almost twice Economic Capital Social Capital health systems struggle to as high, at 21%. One in five Risk factors Resilience keep up with the impacts low-income households Source: OECD (2020), How's Life? 2020 - Measuring Well-being, OECD Publishing, Paris, of COVID-19. spend more than 40% of https://doi.org/10.1787/9870c393-en their disposable income Some might argue that governments have more on rents and mortgage costs. Further, more than 1 in important things to focus on right now than people’s 3 people in OECD countries are financially insecure, well-being. This would be short-sighted. While shortmeaning they lack financial assets to keep their family term policies are needed to save lives and livelihoods above the poverty line for more than 3 months, should today, a simplistic framing of the debate in terms of public their income suddenly stop. health vs economic recovery risks losing sight of other Living conditions at home, where most people are aspects of what matters to people’s lives. It would also asked to stay now, is also less than ideal for some: ignore the debate on what kind of society we want to see 1 in 8 households in the OECD live in overcrowded emerging after this crisis. As Sarah Davidson (CEO of conditions, almost 1 in 14 poor families do not have the Carnegie UK Trust and one of the panellists at the
Issue No. 72, July 2020 - The OECD Statistics Newsletter 3