George Osborne has committed the Conservatives to targeting "full employment", saying that tax and welfare changes would help achieve it.
The chancellor said "unemployment is never a price worth paying, but artificial jobs paid for with borrowed money doesn't work either".
The Conservatives broke with the post-war consensus on seeking full employment during the Thatcher years.
Labour has its own "jobs guarantee" and targets full employment as a goal.
The BBC's Norman Smith said that by targeting full employment, Mr Osborne was "parking his tanks on traditional Labour territory".
In his speech in Essex, the chancellor said governments which tried to guarantee people a job were "doomed to fail" - as they ended up increasing spending to unsustainable levels, resulting in taxes going up and jobs being lost.
There are a number of different definitions of full employment:
BBC News - George Osborne commits to 'fight for full employment'
"people between jobs or unable to work" ? So he's not going to count them.... What does he think the definition of unemployed is the? working and just saying you have no job?
You'll either be employed or die of starvation, won't be unemployed, is probably more correct with the reforms. *shrug*
The chancellor said "unemployment is never a price worth paying, but artificial jobs paid for with borrowed money doesn't work either".
The Conservatives broke with the post-war consensus on seeking full employment during the Thatcher years.
Labour has its own "jobs guarantee" and targets full employment as a goal.
The BBC's Norman Smith said that by targeting full employment, Mr Osborne was "parking his tanks on traditional Labour territory".
In his speech in Essex, the chancellor said governments which tried to guarantee people a job were "doomed to fail" - as they ended up increasing spending to unsustainable levels, resulting in taxes going up and jobs being lost.
There are a number of different definitions of full employment:
- Sir William Beveridge, the architect of the welfare state, thought it should be when 3% of the workforce is unemployed
- Other economists have spoken of a higher "natural rate" of unemployment, where nobody stays out of work for long, with joblessness fluctuating at between 5% and 6%
- The lowest recorded level of unemployment was 215,800, or 1%, in July 1955. The most recent figures this year put the unemployment rate at 7.2% of the population
- Mr Osborne declined to define full employment, but said people between jobs or unable to work or with caring responsibilities would not be included
- However his goal was to have the highest employment rate in the G7, and as part of his plan he expected those who can work to take the jobs available
BBC News - George Osborne commits to 'fight for full employment'
"people between jobs or unable to work" ? So he's not going to count them.... What does he think the definition of unemployed is the? working and just saying you have no job?
You'll either be employed or die of starvation, won't be unemployed, is probably more correct with the reforms. *shrug*
