ABSTRACT
The belief that insertion into employment is the principal route out of poverty dominates government policy-making. In this chapter, however, we question on the one hand, the feasibility and on the other hand, the desirability of such an approach. To do this, we first address the feasibility of creating a 'fullemployment' scenario, especially in deprived urban neighbourhoods. This will show that despite all of the efforts to create jobs in such neighbourhoods, there remains a massive gap between the current employment situation and a full-employment scenario. This jobs gap, moreover, is not narrowing over time. We thus argue that there appears to be little hope either in the near future or even beyond, that such areas will get anywhere close to a state of fullemployment.
