Bernanke says many are still struggling

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday that although broad measurements of the economy point to recovery, many people and businesses are facing tough times.

"Even though some key aggregate metrics -- including consumer spending, disposable income, household net worth, and debt service payments -- have moved in the direction of recovery, it is clear that many individuals and households continue to struggle with difficult economic and financial conditions," he said in prepared text.

His comments were made during a prerecorded speech on economic measurement to the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth in Cambridge, Mass.

He did not discuss the outlook for monetary policy or refer to a report that the economy added a more-than-expected 163,000 jobs in July even as the jobless rate inched up to 8.3 percent.

Bernanke says statistics can sometimes hide important information. He said there has been interesting developments in the study of "well-being" and cited the Kingdom of Bhutan, which abandoned tracking gross national product in 1972 in favor of a measure of happiness.

More conventional economic measurements that bear on the quality of life include income distribution, upward mobility, job security, and buffers households have to protect against financial shocks, he said.

"All of these indicators could be useful in measuring economic progress or setbacks as well as explaining economic decision making or projecting future economic outcomes," he said.