ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the imperative for achieving and maintaining full employment. It shows that full employment policy can be supported by a wide variety of arguments about social justice, including the argument that full employment is, or should be made to be, a right for all persons who wish to work. The chapter also shows that without government action, modern capitalist economies cannot achieve full employment, even on a temporary basis. It argues that economic policy has long been directed toward maintaining an inflation-fighting buffer stock of jobless individuals. The chapter also examines the belief that government can achieve full employment through aggregate demand management alone – that is, the belief that targeted employment programs are not necessary. It explores that targeted employment programs are necessary to ensure that the basic right to a job is guaranteed, and we offer a proposal for such a program.
