Definition of Full Employment

If we imagine an ideal world, it is very likely that we think of a society in which everyone has a livelihood to cover their basic needs. This society would find itself in a situation of full employment or, in other words, with non-existent unemployment.

For some analysts, full employment is a pipe dream that can never be achieved, while others see it as a legitimate aspiration and worth fighting for.

A multifactorial problem

Getting the whole of society to have a job is a matter that depends on many factors: monetary policies, government action, private initiative, fiscal measures, consumer behavior, bank interest rates or the level of public debt. All these elements intervene in some way in the creation of employment.

Guaranteed work is an economic measure aimed at full employment

For some economists the state has the obligation to guarantee a job worthy for all those who have not been able to find a job in the conventional labor market. To achieve this objective, the following general formula is proposed: that social and environmental needs that are not adequately satisfied are met by unemployed people.

The ideal of guaranteed work would be based on three pillars:

1) the strengthening of the public sector,

2) the remuneration economic activity of all those activities that traditionally are not accompanied by a salary, such as caring for the elderly or caring for dependents and

3) carrying out new activities in order to create jobs, such as the rehabilitation of buildings, the reforestation of spaces or the reuse of materials.

If the state cannot guarantee a job for everyone, the universal basic income would be a solution alternative

Those who defend guaranteed work, advocate a viable alternative when it is not possible to guarantee a job by the state. This alternative is the creation of a universal basic income. The idea of ​​a basic income implies that everything citizen have right to an economic allocation regardless of the situation in the labor market.

Supporters of this measure claim that the progressive mechanization of work leads inexorably to unemployment and, therefore, Therefore, the universal basic income would suppose a valid solution so that the citizens could satisfy their needs.

From the liberal perspective

For theorists of liberalism economic formulas inspired by the free market are the ideal way to achieve a certain approximation to full employment. In this scenario, liberals oppose guaranteed work and basic income because they consider that these types of measures end up impoverishing the whole of society.

To achieve the objective, a series of measures are proposed: the liberalization of markets, the suppression of tariffs, the free movement of people and capital and the reduction of the role of the state in economic activity.

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