full employment

British  

noun

1. a state in which the labour force and other economic resources of a country are utilized to their maximum

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full employment Cultural  

1. The condition that exists when all who want work can find jobs. Because some individuals will always be between jobs, full employment does not mean that one hundred percent of the workforce is employed. Rather, it is customarily defined as ninety-six percent of the total potential workforce.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

full employment

The latest unemployment rate, at 4.1%, virtually matches the Fed’s 4.2% estimate of full employment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

"The government is talking about AI, re-skilling, digital skills, but in reality, it is difficult to adapt human resources to digital skills because the top priority is to maintain full employment," he says.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

According to supporters, Greenspan’s theories about full employment, rising incomes and only moderate inflation helped make life better for millions of Americans who hadn’t fully shared in previous bursts of economic prosperity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026

By the end of 2024, gross domestic product was growing at a 2.5% annualized rate, the labor market was at full employment, and inflation appeared to be approaching the Fed’s 2% annual target.

From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026

Mr. Fox told her that "one hundred or one hundred and fifty pounds a year is as much as our most successful writers usually make"—success here meaning, of course, full employment in hackwork.

From Harriet Martineau by Florence Fenwick Miller