ABSTRACT
The necessity for preventing a return of mass-unemployment after this war is recognised by everybody. This recognition has led to the recent publication by the Government of a White Paper on Employment Policy which, as an official document, is epoch-marking in several ways. The principal measure is that of expanding and contracting public investment, on plans prepared beforehand, to oflset contraction and expansion of private investment. Apart from public works the only practical measure proposed, though even this is offered with some reservations, is that social insurance contributions should be varied, being raised in periods of good trade and lowered in times of bad trade, with a view to making consumption more stable. The practical difficulties of the proposal are considerable. The advantages that could be gained by it are not very great, this device would, at highest, mitigate the secondary rather than the primary effects of fluctuation.
