Full Employment and Economic Equality

Abstract

The historical record shows that blacks and other nonwhite minorities have experienced their most rapid economic progress in an environment of full employ ment. Yet, full employment and tight labor markets alone have been insufficient to produce permanent gains in economic equality. Despite the increase in the relative economic position of blacks during the vibrant growth of the 1960s, a disproportionate number, especially in the inner city, were left in unemployment, underemployment and poverty. This experience suggests the need for a national commitment to a full employment policy that emphasizes the availability of jobs for all those willing and able to work, rather than a policy that attempts merely to achieve a rising full employment/unemployment rate that is consistent with price stability. A maximum jobs approach to full employment will facilitate equal opportunity and will provide a foundation for the attain ment of economic equality.