WASHINGTON (August 6, 2012)--Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says data that show the U.S. economy is recovering don’t fully capture the tough times felt by many.

Bernanke said that while measures of consumer spending, income and wealth point to improvement, "many individuals and households continue to struggle with difficult economic and financial conditions."

He made the comments in a pre-recorded speech on economic measurement to the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth in Cambridge, Mass.

Bernanke said statistics can sometimes hide important information.

He said there have 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.

Bernanke made no comments about Fed policy or the July jobs report released last Friday.