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 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

Mainstream monetary economists for generations have operated on a theory—encapsulated by the Phillips Curve and its many iterations—that there exists a trade-off between full employment and price stability.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

But the rally, while far from the Fed’s primary mission of full employment and stable prices, could have the most to lose from Warsh’s debut meeting, slated for Wednesday in Washington.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

At present all the workmen are in full employment, though at very low wages; but a few markets of this kind will have a tendency to get up wages.

From The Economist Volume 1, No. 3 by James Wilson