The economy is so rosy, the statistics tell us, we are at what economists call full employment. “Full employment is a situation in which everyone who is willing and able to work can find a job. At full employment, the measured unemployment rate is still positive.” Economists have argued for years that the full employment number was somewhere “near 5 percent unemployment.”
President John F. Kennedy tried to commit the federal government to a target rate of 4 percent unemployment but it was rejected as being too unrealistic and overly ambitious. Continue reading →