This from a very serious and respected foundation



Gütersloh, 27.10.2011
Social injustice in the OECD by poverty and lack of education

The differences in the prevention of poverty and access to educational
opportunities are immense in the OECD. Best of all the northern European
countries provide for equal achievement opportunities, while many
continental European and Anglo-Saxon welfare states considerable pent-up
demand. Laggards are the USA, Greece, Chile, Mexico and Turkey.

Northern Europe leads the way
An international comparison shows that "social justice and market
performance is not necessarily exclude each other, this show in
particular the Nordic countries." Said Aart de Geus, a board member of
the Bertelsmann Foundation, at the presentation of the study. On the
first places of the justice index are Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden
and Finland.

Poverty and the growing gap between rich and poor is a major problem in
the OECD. Of the 31 countries examined, on average, 10.8 percent of the
people are poor. This means they have to live with less than half the
national median household income.

U.S.: 21.6 percent of children affected by poverty
Particular concern is the phenomenon of child poverty. On average, about
12.3 percent of children live below the poverty line. Therefore, it
lacks many places on the basic requirements of social justice and
participation. The differences within the OECD is alarming: While in
Denmark only 3.7 percent of children affected by poverty, the rate in
the United States at alarming 21.6 percent (rank 28). Only Turkey, Chile
and Mexico cut worse than the largest economy in the world.

Education needs to invest!
Many of the 31 participating OECD countries have significant deficits in
the question of equitable educational opportunities. Again, it is the
Northern European countries, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, which
are particularly successful in this respect also. The U.S. major
economies (ranked 20), Britain (21) or Germany (22) land on the other
hand only in the lower third of the rankings. Including school systems
and increased investment in early childhood education are key tools to
continue to provide more equal opportunities in education.

Level of unemployment determines the social question
Social justice depends critically on access opportunities from the labor
market. The global crisis has had a dramatic here in almost all OECD
countries impact. This worsened the social question. The situation is
catastrophic in Spain: The overall unemployment rate now stands at over
20 percent, long-term unemployment at 9 per cent and youth unemployment
even frightening 41.6 percent.

Finally: In terms of intergenerational equity, many OECD countries face
major challenges. The drastic increase in government debt in most
countries represents a heavy burden for future generations dar.

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