The European social agenda is at a crucial stage. This book describes the Action Plans on Social Inclusion submitted to the European Union by national governments in June 2001 and investigates the indicators that can be used to assess social progress. It deals in a new way with key issues for social policy in Europe: poverty, income inequality, non-monetary deprivation, low educational attainment, unemployment, joblessness, poor health, poor housing and homelessness, functional illiteracy and innumeracy.

The European social agenda is at a crucial stage. This book describes the Action Plans on Social Inclusion submitted to the European Union by national governments in June 2001 and investigates the indicators that can be used to assess social progress. It deals in a new way with key issues for social policy in Europe: poverty, income inequality, non-monetary deprivation, low educational attainment, unemployment, joblessness, poor health, poor housing and homelessness, functional illiteracy and innumeracy.

Social cohesion is one of the declared objectives of the European Union and, with some 16% of EU citizens at risk of poverty, the need to fight poverty and social exclusion continues as a major challenge. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the EU Social Inclusion Process, the means by which it hopes to meet this objective, and explores the challenges ahead at local, regional, national and EU levels. It sets out concrete proposals for taking the Process forward.The book provides a unique analysis of policy formulation and assessment. Setting out the evolution and current state of EU...