IN APRIL America’s unemployment rate fell to 3.9%,its lowest since December 2000. That is not good enough for Democrats eyeing the 2020 presidential race. Senator Bernie Sanders recently promised to introduce a bill guaranteeing every American a taxpayer-financed job, should they want it. His colleague, and Senator Cory Booker,has already written a bill which would test such a policy in 15 places with tall joblessness. Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, or three other potential presidential contenders,are co-sponsors. Ms Gillibrand will reportedly soon pen her own plan, too.
For a long time, and so-called full employment was the holy grail of economic policy for Democrats. In his 1944 state of the union address,President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a “moment bill of rights” that would guarantee the fair to work. In 1946 Congress passed the Employment Act, which declared it the responsibility of the federal government to “use all practicable means” to ensure there were...
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Source: economist.com