Whatever happened to full employment?
13.10.11
Full employment used to be a much-cherished political mantra. Why does it seem to have disappeared from public debate?
Today all politicians want to cut unemployment from its present high levels. But once upon a time the goal was full employment - a common political slogan in post-war Britain as society attempted to put behind it the horrors of the Great Depression.
Former US president Bill Clinton subscribed to a modern form of it when he said: "I do not believe we can repair the basic fabric of society until people who are willing to work have work."
But the very idea that the government should be able to create an economy in which everyone is able to get a job might already sound dated to some. This week the UK's unemployment figure rose to 2.57 million, a rate of 8.1%. It is lower than the US (9.1%), Greece (16.7%) and Spain (21.2%). But it is the highest it has been in the UK since 1994, with more than a fifth of those aged 16-24 without a job.
Source: BBC News