Towards a set of composite indicators on Flexicurity: the Indicator on Modern Social Security Systems

As a third step in the process of construction of a set of composite indicators on flexicurity within a joint DG EMPL-JRC project, this paper presents an attempt to calculate a Composite Indicator on Modern Social Security System, which is one of the main four dimensions of flexicurity according to relevant Commission policy documents (see COM(2007) 359). The dimension of Modern Social Security System is captured through three different indicators: 4. the main indicator, which is based on 20 basic indicators and covers the three year period from 2005 to 2007, 5. a first additional indicator, based on 17 basic indicators and covering only 2004, 6. a second additional indicator built on 24 basic indicators and covering only 2007. All indicators used are based on three different sources. Results point to a heterogeneous Europe, with an overall good performance of Continental countries, and less favourable scores for Mediterranean and Eastern Member States. The indicator's country ranking is quite stable over the period considered with a few changes from one year to another. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses have been performed in order to test the robustness of the Composite Indicator. Those were based on 29400 different simulated scenarios for the main indicator, 25200 different scenarios for the 2004 indicator and 35000 simulated scenarios for the 2007 indicator, generated by considering different options with respect to standardization methods, weighting scheme, aggregation rules and the inclusion/exclusion of basic indicators. Results show that the composite indicator's scores and rankings are overall robust over the period, although some variability is present in each year. This is mainly due to the imputation of missing data. On average, countries record a higher ranking variability with respect to the Life Long Learning Composite indicator, but a lower one compared to the index on Active Labour Market Policies. This is due to the varying presence of missing data. However, the MSS index is quite robust compared to similar indicators developed in the literature.JRC.G.9-Econometrics and applied statistic