Employment Act

Law

15 U.S.C. § 1021 et seq.  | (1946)

stated the government's responsibility for maintaining high employment levels and established the Council of Economic Advisers to advise the president and help assure a healthy national economy. The Act has its roots in the Great Depression of the 1930s and in the economic policy associated with English economist John Maynard Keynes, which largely became federal policy. Central to the policy was the government's role in managing long-term economic demand (through price competition and regulation of interstate trade), which would ensure full employment. Although ultimately the economic policy was dismantled, the Employment Act was important for establishing the role of professional economists in the government and tasking the government with the creation of a systematic economic plan.