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Jersey is still ranking lowest for voter turnout out of 41 countries according to the an index aiming to measure a nation’s wellbeing and progress.
Developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the ‘Better Life Index’ measures 11 ‘dimensions’ of well-being including community, personal safety, jobs and earnings and civic engagement.
The Better Life Index for 2021 shows Jersey scored 6.4 (out of 10), ranking 24th out of 41 nations, five places lower than in 2019.
Jersey’s score is below the OECD average of 6.5 as well as the score of the UK and France (6.9).
Pictured: Jersey ranked 24th out of 41 nations, five places lower than in 2019.
While the island performed well in terms of community – its highest score with 9.0 - and personal safety (8.6), as well as jobs and earnings and health status (8.3), while its scores in life satisfaction (5.3), work-life balance (5.0) and income (4.6) were not as good.
Jersey’s score for the community dimension – based on the percentage of people who have someone they can rely on in case of need – placed it second out of 41 countries, along with Norway, Ireland, Finland and the Czech Republic, behind Iceland with 96% (2016 and 2018 average).
In terms of employment, 77% of people in Jersey of working age (15 to 64 years) were in some form of employment (working at least one hour per week) in 2020 compared with an average of 66% across the OECD.
Meanwhile, the long-term unemployment rate was 0.7% - nearly half of the OECD avegage of 1.3%. However, in 2020 personal earnings, gross average remuneration per full-time equivalent employee, in Jersey ($46,629) was below the OECD average ($49,165).
Pictured: Jersey performed best in community (9.0).
On the flipside, in 2020 islanders rated their overall life satisfaction slightly lower than the average recorded across the OECD with Jersey ranking 21st out of 41 for this item.
As for work-life balance, around one in seven (14%) employees in Jersey indicated they worked 50 or more hours in a usual week during 2019, a higher proportion than in the UK (11%) and the OECD average (10%).
In terms of disposable income, Jersey ranked 21st out of 41 countries. In 2019, mean net adjusted disposable income per capita in Jersey was $28,6925, which was below the OECD average of $30,490.
As in 2019, Jersey ranked lower than all OECD member and partner countries in civic engagement (measured by voter turnout) with a score of zero.
Pictured: Jersey ranked lowest in civic engagement.
Voter turnout in Jersey - 43.4% in the May 2018 States Assembly elections - was lower than in all OECD member and partner countries, and well below the latest average voter turnout rate of 69% (the figure includes OECD countries which have compulsory voting such as Australia, 92%).
Analysis from the OECD shows that Jersey performs worse, on a relative basis, across the quality of life domain – which includes health status, work-life balance, education and skills etc… - than in the material conditions domain (income, jobs and earnings, housing).
When compared with OECD member and partner countries, Jersey performs most similarly to the United Kingdom, France and Belgium.
Comparison with the 2019 results shows that Jersey ranked five places lower than in 2019. Its ranking dropped in eight out of the 11 indicators, with the biggest fall – seven places – seen in health.
Meanwhile there was no change in civic engagement or community and the island ranked three places higher in terms of education and skills, ranking 22nd out of 41.
Pictured: Jersey ranked 11th out of 13 when compared with all UK regions.
On a regional level, Jersey scored 7.0 ranking 162nd out of 406 regions. Regions from five countries (Australia, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands and the USA) accounted for the top 25 regions, with the Canberra Capital region of Australia being ranked the highest, with a score of 9.4.
In contrast, regions from two countries (Mexico and Turkey) accounted for the lowest 25 regions with the Guanajuato region of Mexico scoring the lowest with 1.7.
Jersey’s overall regional well-being score placed it 11th out of 13 when compared with all UK regions.
Senator Kristina Moore queried the results of the Better Life Index during a recent hearing of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel with the Chief Minister Senator John Le Fondré, asking him to comment on his performance based on the fact “Jersey is 11 out of 13 in the British Isles and we’ve dropped 26 places in the Better Life Index compared to where we were in 2019”.
The Chief Minister queried why the island had scored 0 on civic engagement, arguing that if “community and the honorary and all that sort of thing” were included, the island would “rate very well”.
“There are areas actually we are doing well and we are well above the average including education and skills, environmental quality, house status, personal safety, just picking a few,” he added.
Despite a further push by Senator Moore, he didn’t directly answer the questions, adding instead: “What it doesn’t tell us unfortunately, and we’ll have to go back and look at is where we were. It ranks us according to everybody else in the world and does not look at where we were previously, and whether we have improved.”
Senator Moore eventually ended the discussion, saying: “It’s clear you don’t wish to address any of the other issues that are related to sustainable wellbeing and you choose just to focus on one very narrow part of the report.”
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