Appendix I Full Employment and Rational Employment

Abstract

Though all the three countries have been committed to full employment (FE) from the start of central planning, it was some time before economists commenced to analyse its meaning, the preconditions for its achievement and its relationship to rational employment (RE). Polish economists were in a sense pioneers in this sphere: already in the second half of the 50s they had started to deal with these problems on a theoretical level. No doubt the employment situation in Poland was an impetus to such contemplations, particularly the fact that at a time when the economy suffered from unemployment in some sectors labour shortages showed up. Yet, if not for the political events of 1956 which created a fertile soil for research, the economic impetus would not have had much effect. Only later were Polish economists joined by their colleagues in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.