This initiative is led by ICF SA in consortium with the HIVA Institute, on behalf of the European Commission. The team is led by Dr. Geert Van Hootegem from HIVA and Dr. Simona Milio from ICF. 

• Social Situation Monitor research team 

If you have any questions, please contact the project team. 

The Social Situation Monitor (SSM): 

• is a tool to foster the open method of coordination in the fields of social policy, social protection and employment 

• delivers policy-relevant and evidence-based research on the current socio-economic situation in the EU  

The SSM focuses on four main areas of research: 

1. Poverty, income inequality, social inequalities, health and well-being  

2. Employment, unemployment and labour market outcomes  

3. The welfare state, social, and labour market policies  

4. Labour market and distributional impacts of megatrends (e.g., the future of work, digitalisation, climate change COVID-19, globalisation, green transition).  

Every year, this initiative delivers three types of outputs:

• research notes
• research seminars
• research findings

Research notes consist of empirical data analysis on a topic within the four main areas of research and from an EU cross-country perspective. They may be also methodological papers or literature reviews. 

Research seminars are events that bring together policy makers, academics and any other relevant stakeholder to discuss empirical research applied to address issues within the four areas of research. More specifically, research seminars aim to inform the: 

• economic and social analysis of the European Commission in general, and the Employment and Social Developments in Europe review in particular, 

• economic and social analysis of the European Commission’s stakeholders, 

• economic and social policies of the European Commission and its stakeholders. 

Three research seminars are delivered every year. 

Research findings are a list of updated indicators such as Gini coefficients and at-risk-of-poverty (AROP) rates for the EU27 Member States across time. These indicators are calculated using micro-data from EU surveys such as EU-SILC and LFS. 

Key outputs 

• Research notes (2020-21) 

• All research notes before 2020 

• Research seminars and presentations (2020-21) 

• All research seminars presentations (before 2020) 

• Updated research findings 

• All research seminars (summaries) 

• Glossary with main terms used