Statistiek en planning in de sociale sector

Summary Statistics and planning do not function as yet in the social sector in the same way as they do in the economic sector, where national accounts and balances are used as frameworks for the integration of the various economic statistics. On the one hand economic sector studies can be made for the social sector as well, giving a picture of the total costs and the financing of the various kinds of social care; on the other hand it is necessary that for each kind of social care (education, medical care, care for the maintainance of law, order and safety, religious care, care for labour and spending of leisure time, housing and social work) social input‐output tables be composed regarding the “cared‐for” as well as the “caretakers”, giving in the form of a matrix the flows of persons passing through each sector of care. If projections are based on such matrices, planning becomes possible and in this way shortages and surpluses can be located in time and a long term policy can be pursued. The various basic statistics will have to be brought into harmony with the requirements of the composition of such input‐output tables for each cohort. To reach this goal two ways are open: either by collecting information for each individual entering a care‐sector about one or more previous situations or by following the individuals through various situations of entering, passing through and leaving care‐sectors. This latter method, the method of the so‐called longitudinal statistics, provides greater possibilities because extrapolation is easier and one can link the different previous situations. The relevant factors can be quantified and the data for model building become available. The development in registration and in automation makes the compilation of longitudinal statistics ‐far as necessary on a sample basis ‐ a practical possibility.