Information on data

Background

Delivering a more social and fair Europe is the European Commission's key priority. The European pillar of social rights (EPSR) aims to be a guide that can lead to renewed socio-economic convergence.

An updated list of main indicators was presented by the European Commission in early 2021 and approved by EU members in 2021.

The Pillar sets out 20 key principles which represent the beacon guiding us towards a strong social Europe that is fair, inclusive and full of opportunity in the 21st century.

Social scoreboard

The Pillar is supported by a ‘scoreboard’ of key indicators which is used to assess the employment and social performances of participating EU countries. This scoreboard serves as a reference framework to monitor societal progress and quickly identify significant employment and social challenges, as well as long-term progress. It also allows for the benchmarking of successful outcomes to ensure overall improvement. The European Council has endorsed the headline indicators in June 2021 (please see  Council conclusion), while the proposed secondary indicators are currently under review. 

Data sources

Eurostat provides the data for most of the indicators of the social scoreboard. These data mainly come from various social statistics sources such as the EU labour force survey (LFS) or the EU statistics on income and living conditions (SILC). The use of these high-quality sources enables accurate comparisons between EU members, as well as for the identification of trends over time.

Overview of social scoreboard indicators

An overview of the indicators used for the EPSR principles is provided below.

These principles were chosen for both their economic and social importance to the performance of participating EU countries.

It is organised around 3 main dimensions:

• equal opportunities
• fair working conditions 
• social protection and inclusion