Monitoring the evolution of income poverty and real incomes over time.

For many years, there has been a sharp separation between, on the one hand, the macroeconomic evaluation of economic policy and, on the other hand, the analysis of the impact of policy on the living standards of households. On one side are the national accounts, where performance is judged by eagerly watched figures for Gross Domestic Product(GDP). Recovery in the short?term and growth in the medium-term have been assessed in these aggregate terms. In the EU, these are the matters on which the European Commission's 'Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs' and the EU 'Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)' Council have focused. On the other side are the ? more slowly arriving ? statistics on households' living conditions, now represented by the EU-SILC instrument. These form the basis for the EU social indicators and for judging success in terms of social inclusion across EU countries. These are the matters on which the European Commission's 'Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion' and the EU 'Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO)' Council have focused (...)