Full Employment and Economic Equality

• Author: Bernard E. Anderson
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627541800113
• Date: 01 March 1975
• Published date: 01 March 1975
• Subject Matter: Articles

127

Full

Employment

and

Economic

Equality

By

BERNARD

E.

ANDERSON

Bernard

E.

Anderson,

Ph.D.,

University

of

Pennsylvania,

has

been

a

member

of

the

faculty

of

the

Wharton

School

since

1970.

He

has

also

taught

at

Swarth-

more

College

and

served

as

an

economist

for

the

U.S.

Bureau

of

Labor

Statistics.

He

is

author

of

Negro

Employment

in

Public

Utilities,

co-

author

of

The

Impact

of

Government

Manpower

Programs,

and

has

written

several

articles

on

the

economic

status

of

minorities

for

scholarly

and

economic

journals.

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.