Musgrave, Ralph S. (2009): Private Sector "Employer of Last Resort".
Abstract
Those advocating “government as employer of last resort schemes” (ELR) nearly always assume, first, that “ELR employers” should be specially set up to employ those out of work, i.e. that these projects or “employers” should be separate from existing public sector employers. A second almost universal assumption is that, as already intimated, the work involved should be public sector type work rather than private sector commercial type work.
This paper puts an argument which demolishes or weakens both the above two assumptions. That is, it is argued, first, that ELR work should be with EXISTING employers. Second, it is argued that this work should be in BOTH public and private sectors, not just the public sector. I actually argued against the above two assumptions in a paper in 1991 (Musgrave (1991)) but for different reasons. The argument below complements these “1991” reasons, rather than renders them obsolete in any way.
These 1991 reasons are set out below in abbreviated form, and begin after the heading “Marginal Employment Subsidy” below.
The argument that is new in this paper centres around the other factors of production (OFP) that need to be employed alongside the relatively unskilled ELR employees (these factors of production are skilled labour, materials and equipment). If ELR involves little or no OFP, then output will be hopeless. On the other hand if ELR involves anywhere near the usual ratios of different factors of production, then the ELR scheme amounts to much the same thing as a normal employer. This suggests that ELR employees should be placed with existing public sector employers.
Second, traditional ELR advocates normally claim that public sector ELR is not inflationary. This claim is based on the assumption that no OFP need be withdrawn from the private sector to make ELR work. Once this false assumption is rectified, it turns out there is no difference in the inflationary impact as between public and private sector ELR, thus there is no reason to confine ELR to the public sector.
Item Type: | MPRA Paper |
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Original Title: | Private Sector "Employer of Last Resort". |
Language: | English |
Keywords: | Government as employer of last resort; workfare; private sector; marginal employment subsidy. |
Subjects: | E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E24 - Employment ; Unemployment ; Wages ; Intergenerational Income Distribution ; Aggregate Human Capital ; Aggregate Labor Productivity J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J68 - Public Policy |
Item ID: | 20110 |
Depositing User: | Ralph Musgrave |
Date Deposited: | 31 Mar 2010 05:59 |
Last Modified: | 11 Feb 2013 11:02 |
References: | Kesselman, J. R., (1978), Work Relief Programs in the Great Depression in Creating Jobs (J L Palmer, editor) Washington Brookings Institution. Mitchell, W. F., and W. Mosler (2001) "Unemployment and Fiscal Policy." in Unemployment: The Tip of the Iceberg, edited by W. F. Mitchell and E. Carlson. Centre for Applied Economic Research, University of New South Wales, 2001. Mosler, W. (1997) "Full Employment and Price Stability." Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 20, no. 2: 167-182. Musgrave, R. S. (1991), Workfare: A Marginal Employment Subsidy for Private and Public Sectors, ISBN: 0 9518841 0 7. This is out of print (though still available in a few libraries). I produced a second and online edition in March 2009 which is identical, except for two appendices which are substantially different: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/14206/1/MPRA_paper_14206.pdf Phelps, Edmund, S. (1997) Rewarding Work How to Restore Participation and Self-Support to Free Enterprise, Harvard University Press. Sawyer, Malcolm (2003) Employer of Last Resort: Could It Deliver Full Employment and Price Stability? Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 37. Werner, Heinz, (1998) Countries with successful employment policies – what lies behind the success? Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, 1998, vol. 31, issue 2, pages 324-333 Wray, L. R. (1998) "Zero Unemployment and Stable Prices." Journal of Economic Issues 32, no. 2: 539-545. |
URI: | https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/20110 |
Available Versions of this Item
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Private Sector "Employer of Last Resort". (deposited 13 Nov 2009 17:31)
- Private Sector "Employer of Last Resort". (deposited 31 Mar 2010 05:59) [Currently Displayed]