§ 1021. — Congressional declarations.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC1021]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 21--NATIONAL POLICY ON EMPLOYMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY
Sec. 1021. Congressional declarations
(a) Generally
The Congress declares that it is the continuing policy and
responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means,
consistent with its needs and obligations and other essential national
policies, and with the assistance and cooperation of both small and
larger businesses, agriculture, labor, and State and local governments,
to coordinate and utilize all its plans, functions, and resources for
the purpose of creating and maintaining, in a manner calculated to
foster and promote free competitive enterprise and the general welfare,
conditions which promote useful employment opportunities, including
self-employment, for those able, willing, and seeking to work, and
promote full employment and production, increased real income, balanced
growth, a balanced Federal budget, adequate productivity growth, proper
attention to national priorities, achievement of an improved trade
balance through increased exports and improvement in the international
competitiveness of agriculture, business, and industry, and reasonable
price stability as provided in section 1022b(b) of this title.
(b) Full opportunities for employment
The Congress further declares and establishes as a national goal the
fulfillment of the right to full opportunities for useful paid
employment at fair rates of compensation of all individuals able,
willing, and seeking to work.
(c) Inflation
The Congress further declares that inflation is a major national
problem requiring improved government policies relating to food, energy,
improved and coordinated fiscal and monetary management, the reform of
outmoded rules and regulations of the Federal Government, the correction
of structural defects in the economy that prevent or seriously impede
competition in private markets, and other measures to reduce the rate of
inflation.
(d) Coordination of Federal policies and programs
The Congress further declares that it is the purpose of the Full
Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 [15 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.] to
improve the coordination and integration of the policies and programs of
the Federal Government toward achievement of the objectives of such Act
through better management, increased efficiency, and attention to long-
range as well as short-range problems and to balancing the Federal
budget.
(e) Federal controls
The Congress further declares that, although it is the purpose under
the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 [15 U.S.C. 3101 et
seq.] to seek diligently and to encourage the voluntary cooperation of
the private sector in helping to achieve the objectives of such Act, no
provisions of such Act or this chapter shall be used, with respect to
any portion of the private sector of the economy, to provide for Federal
Government control of production, employment, allocation of resources,
or wages and prices, except to the extent authorized under other Federal
laws.
(f) Expansion of private employment
The Congress further declares that it is the purpose of the Full
Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 [15 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.] to
maximize and place primary emphasis upon the expansion of private
employment, and all programs and policies under such Act shall be in
accord with such purpose. Toward this end, the effort to expand jobs to
the full employment level shall be in this order of priority to the
extent consistent with balanced growth--
(1) expansion of conventional private jobs through improved use
of general economic and structural policies, including measures to
encourage private sector investment and capital formation;
(2) expansion of private employment through Federal assistance
in connection with the priority programs in such Act;
(3) expansion of public employment other than through the
provisions of section 206 of such Act [15 U.S.C. 3116]; and
(4) when recommended by the President under section 206 of such
Act [15 U.S.C. 3116] and subject to the limitations in such section,
the creation of employment through the methods set forth in such
section.
(g) Trade deficits
The Congress further declares that trade deficits are a major
national problem requiring a strong national export policy including
improved Government policies relating to the promotion, facilitation,
and financing of commercial and agricultural exports, Government
policies designed to reduce foreign barriers to exports through
international negotiation and agreement, Federal support for research,
development, and diffusion of new technologies to promote innovation in
agriculture, business, and industry, the elimination or modification of
Government rules or regulations that burden or disadvantage exports and
the national and international competitiveness of agriculture, business,
and industry, the reexamination of antitrust laws and policies when
necessary to enable agriculture, business, and industry to meet foreign
competition in the United States and abroad, and the achievement of a
free and fair international trading system and a sound and stable
international monetary order.
(h) Balanced Federal budget
The Congress further declares that it is the purpose of the Full
Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 [15 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.] to
achieve a balanced Federal budget consistent with the achievement of the
medium-term goals specified in section 1022a of this title.
(i) Investment needs of private enterprise
The Congress further declares that it is the continuing policy and
responsibility of the Federal Government, in cooperation with State and
local governments, to use all practical means consistent with other
essential considerations of national policy to provide sufficient
incentives to assure meeting the investment needs of private enterprise,
including the needs of small and medium sized businesses, in order to
increase the production of goods, the provision of services, employment,
the opportunity for profit, the payment of taxes, and to reduce and
control inflation. To the extent it is reasonably possible to do so,
private enterprise investments in depressed urban and rural areas should
be promoted to reduce the high levels of unemployment that exist there.
(j) Reliance on private sector
The Congress further declares that it is the purpose of the Full
Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 [15 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.] to
rely principally on the private sector for expansion of economic
activity and creation of new jobs for a growing labor force. Toward this
end, it is the purpose of this chapter to encourage the adoption of
fiscal policies that would establish the share of the gross national
product accounted for by Federal outlays at the lowest level consistent
with national needs and priorities.
(Feb. 20, 1946, ch. 33, Sec. 2, 60 Stat. 23; Pub. L. 95-523, title I,
Sec. 102, Oct. 27, 1978, 92 Stat. 1890.)
References in Text
The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, referred to in
subsecs. (d), (e), (f), (h), and (j), is Pub. L. 95-523, Oct. 27, 1978,
92 Stat. 1887, as amended, which is classified principally to chapter 58
(Sec. 3101 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this
Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 3101 of this
title and Tables.
Amendments
1978--Pub. L. 95-523 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a),
inserted provisions relating to promotion of balanced growth, a balanced
Federal budget, adequate productivity growth, proper attention to
national priorities, improvement in trade balance, and reasonable price
stability, and added subsecs. (b) to (j).
Short Title
Section 1 of act Feb. 20, 1946, provided: ``This Act [enacting this
chapter] may be cited as the `Employment Act of 1946'.''
Statement of Purpose
Section 101 of Pub. L. 95-523 provided that: ``It is the purpose of
this title [enacting sections 1022a to 1022f of this title, amending
sections 1021, 1022 and 1023 of this title and section 225a of Title 12,
Banks and Banking, and enacting provisions set out as a note under
section 225a of Title 12]--
``(1) to declare the general policies of this Act [see Short
Title note under section 3101 of this title];
``(2) to provide an open process under which economic goals and
policies are proposed, reviewed, and established;
``(3) to provide for yearly review of national economic policies
to ensure their consistency with these goals to the maximum extent
possible; and
``(4) to strengthen and supplement the purposes and policies of
the Employment Act of 1946 [this chapter].''
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 1022, 1023, 3117 of this
title.
