The 1944 White Paper on Employment Policy

Abstract

‘THE Government accept as one of their primary aims and responsibilities the maintenance of a high and stable level of employment after the war.’ This commitment in the 1944 White Paper on Employment Policy has generally been recognised as a major change in policy priorities. On the other hand, it is also true that the White Paper incorporated compromises between traditional ideas and the theories of Keynes and his followers [1: 242–7; 10; 46; 116; 142: 132–4; 145: 15–33; 149: 48–67; 150: 269–73]. The White Paper outlined a threefold approach to employment policy. Firstly, in collaboration with other countries, efforts were being made to create favourable international conditions in which exports could expand (see Chapter 2). Secondly, with emphasis on the transition from a war economy, there were to be microeconomic measures to prevent unemployment arising from a maldistribution of industry and labour. Thirdly, with reference to the period after the transition, there were to be macroeconomic measures to maintain aggregate demand. Keynes was personally involved as the Treasury’s representative in negotiations with the United States on what became the Bretton Woods agreements on stable exchange rates and the establishment of the International Monetary Fund.