‘Full Employment’ as an Objective

Abstract

The subject which I have chosen for this paper is not one of those matters which are only discussed in university classrooms and papers to learned societies; it cannot be said that full employment as an objective has not attracted very general interest. It has been the subject of pronouncements of one sort or another from most established governments. It has been among the leading agenda at many international conferences. In some parts it has affected legislation, in almost all it has affected practice. There are few political parties which do not put full employment in the foreground of their political programmes; there are few political discussions which do not assume its desirability as an axiom to be accepted without question. Much more even than nationalization it has become the economic catchword of our time.

An earlier version of this paper was printed in number 192 of the Comptes-Rendus des Travaux de la Société d’Économie Politique de Belgique, December 1949.