ABSTRACT
The achievement of sustained full employment has not exactly been a general feature of industrialised countries, and high levels of unemployment have become a common feature in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007/09. This chapter considers the policy challenges of securing full employment, and specifically considers how macroeconomic policies, including fiscal and monetary policies, can be used to secure full employment. This should not be taken to underestimate the technical difficulties of implementing the policies suggested – for example, setting the budget position to secure level of demand consistent with full employment. It should also not be taken to underestimate the political and social obstacles to the achievement of full employment (with Kalecki, 1943 being the classic article that draws attention to those political and social obstacles even when the achievement of full employment is technically possible).
