Measures aimed at improving recipients’ prospects of finding gainful employment or increasing their earnings capacity or, in the case of employers, at encouraging them to take on people or to maintain jobs. These include public employment services, vocational training programmes, job subsidies and job creation measures.
The proportion of people with an equivalised disposable income below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is conventionally set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income (after social transfers and direct taxes). The at-risk-of-poverty rate is part of the set of indicators adopted by the Laeken European Council.
Include all the main cash benefits and public pensions received by households. In some cases, we divide benefits further into public pensions, means-tested benefits and non means-tested benefits.
A group set up to improve national household income statistics by developing relevant standards on conceptual and practical issues. To improve international comparability, the Group has developed and recommended international guidelines and standards. For more information, see: www.lisproject.org/links/canbaccess.htm
Data that relate to a single point in time, rather than a timeseries data set, which consists of observations over successive periods of time (e.g. monthly or annually).
One of the nine variate values that divide a total frequency distribution (such as that of disposable income) into 10 equal parts in terms of the population covered, once the population has been ranked in terms of a particular variable (such as disposable income).
The population included within one of the 10 equal parts. For example, the bottom income decile group represents the 10% of the population with the lowest income in a country or region.
Gross income less income tax, regular taxes on wealth, compulsory social insurance contributions paid by the individual concerned plus social transfers and any private transfers received.
The European Community Household Panel, a panel survey in which the same selected sample of households and the people living in them were interviewed each year about their income, financial situation, working life, housing situation, social relations, health and other aspects of their living conditions. Altogether, there were eight annual surveys, or waves, of ECHP between 1994 and 2001, before it was terminated, to be replaced by the EU-SILC (see below).
The highest education or training level successfully completed, usually defined in terms of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/International_standard_classification_of_education_(ISCED)
Defined according to international conventions as anyone aged 15 and over who, during a particular week (the reference week), worked at least one hour in a job or business, or had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent. The definition includes unpaid family workers. In some parts of the EU-SILC or Labour Force Survey (see below), employment can also be self-defined.
The total disposable income of a household (i.e. the sum of the income of all members) divided by the number of people living in the household, weighted to allow for the economies associated with collective consumption. The weights used in the analysis here, and in most studies, conform to the modified OECD scale, which attributes weight of 1.0 to the first adult, 0.5 to everyone else aged 14 and over, and 0.3 to each child aged under 14. Each person in the household is, therefore, assigned the same ‘equivalised disposable income’, on the implicit assumption that the income of the household is shared equally between the members.
The Member States that entered the EU on 1 May 2004 — i.e. the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.
The 15 Member States prior to the accession of the EU10 — i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
A tax-benefit microsimulation model of households in EU Member States, which enables to estimate, in a comparative way across countries, the effects of taxes and benefits on household income and work incentives. http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/euromod
The Statistical Office of the European Communities and part of the European Commission. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/
The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, an annual survey to collect comparable data in EU Member States on these and related aspects. The survey project was launched in 2003 and covered six Member States (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Austria) plus Norway; it was extended in 2004 to a further seven (to the EU15 — with the exceptions of Germany, the Netherlands and the UK — plus Estonia). In 2005, the survey covered all EU25 countries, and as from 2007 it covers Bulgaria and Romania as well (together with Turkey and Switzerland). Additional information can be found at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/microdata/eu_silc
The process by which tax revenue tends to increase with inflation or growth because tax thresholds or allowances are not adjusted in line with inflation or the growth of income.
A measure of inequality or concentration, here used mainly in respect of income. The Gini coefficient is derived from the Lorenz curve (see below), which plots cumulative shares of the population, from the poorest upwards, against the cumulative share of incomes that they receive. The Gini coefficient is defined as the ratio of the area between the Lorenz curve and the total area delineated by the 45-degree line, which indicates an equal distribution of income, with everyone receiving the same amount. The Gini coefficient, therefore, varies between 0, when it would be the same as the 45-degree line and 1, when a single individual (person or household) has all the income.
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Active labour market policies
