1-529
POLICY DECLARATION
IN EMPLOYMENT ACT OF 1946
Act
of February 20, 1946 (60 Stat. 23) SECTION 2
(a) The Congress hereby declares that
it is the continuing policy and responsibility of the Federal Government
to use all practicable means consistent with its needs and obligations
and other essential considerations of national policy, with the assistance
and cooperation of industry, agriculture, labor, and State and local
governments, to coordinate and utilize all its plans, functions, and
resources for the purpose of creating and maintaining, in a manner
calculated to foster and promote free competitive enterprise and the
general welfare, conditions under which there will be afforded useful
employment opportunities, including self-employment, for those able,
willing, and seeking to work, and to promote maximum employment, production,
and purchasing power.
(b) The Congress further
declares and establishes as a national goal the fulfillment of the
right to full opportunities for useful paid employment at fair rates
of compensation of all individuals able, willing, and seeking to work.
(c) The Congress further declares that inflation
is a major national problem requiring improved government policies
relating to food, energy, improved and coordinated fiscal and monetary
management, the reform of outmoded rules and regulations of the Federal
Government, the correction of structural defects in the economy that
prevent or seriously impede competition in private markets, and other
measures to reduce the rate of inflation.
(d)
The Congress further declares that it is the purpose of the Full Employment
and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 to improve the coordination and integration
of the policies and programs of the Federal Government toward achievement
of the objectives of such Act through better management, increased
efficiency, and attention to long-range as well as short-range problems
and to balancing the Federal budget.
(e) The Congress
further declares that, although it is the purpose under the Full Employment
and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 to seek diligently and to encourage
the voluntary cooperation of the private sector in helping to achieve
the objectives of such Act, no provisions of such Act or this chapter
shall be used, with respect to any portion of the private sector of
the economy, to provide for Federal Government control of production,
employment, allocation of resources, or wages and prices, except to
the extent authorized under other Federal laws.
(f) The Congress further declares that it is the purpose of the Full
Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 to maximize and place primary
emphasis upon the expansion of private employment, and all programs
and policies under such Act shall be in accord with such purpose.
Toward this end, the effort to expand jobs to the full employment
level shall be in this order of priority to the extent consistent
with balanced growth—
(1) expansion of conventional private jobs
through improved use of general economic and structural policies,
including measures to encourage private sector investment and capital
formation;
(2) expansion
of private employment through Federal assistance in connection with
the priority programs in such Act;
(3) expansion of public employment other
than through the provisions of section 3116 of this title; and
(4) when recommended by
the President under section 3116 of this title and subject to the
limitations in such section, the creation of employment through the
methods set forth in such section.
(g)
The Congress further declares that trade deficits are a major national problem requiring
a strong national export policy including improved Government policies
relating to the promotion, facilitation, and financing of commercial
and agricultural exports, Government policies designed to reduce foreign
barriers to exports through international negotiation and agreement,
Federal support for research, development, and diffusion of new technologies
to promote innovation in agriculture, business, and industry, the
elimination or modification of Government rules or regulations that
burden or disadvantage exports and the national and international
competitiveness of agriculture, business, and industry, the reexamination
of antitrust laws and policies when necessary to enable agriculture,
business, and industry to meet foreign competition in the United States
and abroad, and the achievement of a free and fair international trading
system and a sound and stable international monetary order.
(h) The Congress further declares that it is the purpose
of the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 to achieve
a balanced Federal budget consistent with the achievement of the medium-term
goals specified in section 1022a of this title.
(i) The Congress further declares that it is the continuing policy
and responsibility of the Federal Government, in cooperation with
State and local governments, to use all practical means consistent
with other essential considerations of national policy to provide
sufficient incentives to assure meeting the investment needs of private
enterprise, including the needs of small and medium sized businesses,
in order to increase the production of goods, the provision of services,
employment, the opportunity for profit, the payment of taxes, and
to reduce and control inflation. To the extent it is reasonably possible
to do so, private enterprise investments in depressed urban and rural
areas should be promoted to reduce the high levels of unemployment
that exist there.
(j) The Congress further declares
that it is the purpose of the Full Employment and Balanced Growth
Act of 1978 to rely principally on the private sector for expansion
of economic activity and creation of new jobs for a growing labor
force. Toward this end, it is the purpose of this chapter to encourage
the adoption of fiscal policies that would establish the share of
the gross national product accounted for by Federal outlays at the
lowest level consistent with national needs and priorities.
[15 USC 1021. As amended
by act of Oct. 27, 1978 (92 Stat. 1890).]
