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The report provides an overview of the progress achieved in the implementation of the recommendations of the World Summit for Social Development, at the national level. The three themes of concern are: Poverty eradication, employment and social integration.
The report goes into details regarding the implications of the macro-economic development upon social conditions. In this context, the report shed light on the slow down in economic growth, that was coupled with a relative change in the GDP structure, illustrated through the growing share of interest at the expense of the other GDP components, mainly profit and wages. It can be concluded from this distortion that a phenomenon of redistribution of income occurred in the past five years, transferring resources from wage-earners to bondholders.
During the past five years, government spending on social services as a percent of total budget relatively increased, however the efficiency and equity of this spending are still controversial, mainly in light of the absence of reliable and efficient monitoring tools. Wages continue to constitute a considerable bulk of the government budget, however without reflecting an obvious improvement in the living standards of this class of employees, namely public sector employees. Also, another bulk of the budget is confined to debt servicing expenses. These two major posts of public spending are being mainly financed through taxation, the majority of which are either indirect taxes or tariffs on public services, accelerating thus the transfer of wealth from lower-income groups to higher-income ones, and widening the existing gap among the different social classes. Furthermore, although the stabilization monetary policy pursued by the government succeeded to a large extent in controlling the rates of exchange and inflation, it created a disincentive for private productive investment to grow, limiting thus employment generation, and contributing to the slow down in economic growth. Briefly, the major effects of macro-economic policies upon social development are:
Relative decline in disposable income
Further imbalances in the distribution of income
Uneven accessibility to basic infrastructure and social services
Slowdown in employment generation activities
Due to the scarcity of reliable and relevant data regarding the three themes of concern, the report does not go into detailed time comparisons, however progress is measured mainly through the various attempts conducted by the government (programmes, plans, studies, ..) aiming at poverty alleviation, employment promotion and social integration of underprivileged groups. Also, the report shed light on the constraints encountered in relation to these three themes.
1. Poverty Eradication
In the context of poverty eradication, the main achievement of the government is the provision of the relevant national data considered as a basis for measuring socio-economic conditions and extent of poverty. Also, specific developmental interventions were implemented (some of which are on-going) aiming at enhancing the living conditions of specific groups (displaced, farmers, rural areas,..) and in specific regions (Baalbeck-Hermel, South, ..). Poverty eradication in Lebanon is still constrained by the absence of a comprehensive national plan that would identify under-served areas and social groups, and that would assist devising strategies to assess needs and attain sustainable development, with minimum waste of resources.
The report considers three proxy indicators to evaluate the extent of poverty, namely income, health and education. The approach results in the following conclusions:
Income indicators:
The evolution of minimum wage showed that the purchasing power of the Lebanese population was notably affected during the period 1991-1998.
Huge disparities are still encountered in the level of income mainly in relation to gender and regions.
The patterns of spending of Lebanese households reveal that lower-income groups are more affected than higher income groups by custom tariffs- which are imposed only on goods- as well as by the prices of public services.
Health:
Although efforts are being made to enhance the performance of the health sector and despite the relative improvement in health indicators, no efficient and equitable efficient access to basic health services is yet ensured. Hence, the sector needs further development mainly to guarantee a balanced coverage of primary health services for the different regions and social segments.
Education:
Although enrollment rates for primary students are very high, structural problems are still facing the public educational sector, mainly relating to the efficiency and quality of the public schooling, accessibility by the different regions and social classes, as well as the high cost incurred.
2. Employment
Despite the efforts made, several constraints arise at the macro and micro economic levels affecting employment conditions in Lebanon. Some of these predicaments are structural, and some are induced by the overall economic performance. The employment promotion in Lebanon is particularly affected by the slowdown in private sector investment, the lack of financial resource available for upgrading of technologies, the competition with foreign cheap labor, the match between labor market supply and demand, in addition to the problem related to the level of wage.
3. Social Integration
The three groups considered by the reports that call for social integration are: the displaced; the occupied territories, the detainees in Israeli prisons, and freed detainees; and women and youth.
The return of the displaced population is faced with several constraints, the most prominent of which is the fiscal situation facing the Lebanese government, the fact which affect the possibility of accelerating the return of displaced in the short run. Return of displaced is also constrained by several political and social factors.
A regional development plan for southern Lebanon was prepared aiming at fulfilling its transition from a marginalized area to an economically developed one, thus integrating its population in the economic mainstream by providing the necessary living conditions (infrastructure and basic services), and increasing the opportunities of work in the area. As to the freed detainees, efforts are being made to reintegrate them into social life either by providing pensions, or through assisting them finding employment mainly in public sector.
Women participation in labor force and in professional syndicates improved significantly, though still below expectation, considering the high educational attainment. Also, women participation in political life is still not satisfactory. Several improvements are recorded in the conditions of children and youth, mainly as to the improvement in the enrollment rates and the obvious retreat in under-age work, some constraints are still facing the young generation, especially that high employment rates are recorded for this segment of population, in addition to their low participation in political life (age for voting).
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Lebanon
