Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act

(Reported to Senate from the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with amendment, S. Rept. 95-1177)

Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act - =Title I: Establishment of Goals and General Economic Policies= - Amends the Employment Act of 1946 to declare and establish 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. Declares inflation and trade deficits to be major national problems requiring improved government policies.

Declares the purpose of this Act to maximize and place primary emphasis upon the expansion of private employment, and prohibits Federal Government control of production, employment, allocation of resources, or wages and prices, except to the extent authorized under other Federal laws. Establishes an order of four priorities for job creation: (1) conventional private jobs; (2) private employment through Federal assistance to priority programs; (3) conventional public employment programs; and (4) last-resort reservoirs of public and private nonprofit employment projects.

Declares and establishes as a national goal the gradual reduction of the share of the gross national product (GNP) accounted for by Federal outlays. Declares the purpose of this Act to achieve a balanced Federal budget consistent with the achievement of certain employment goals.

Amends the Employment Act of 1946 to direct the President in each annual Economic Report to set forth: (1) the current and foreseeable trends in the levels of employment, unemployment, production, capital formation, real income, productivity, prices, Federal budget outlays and receipts, and international trade and payments, and a review and analysis of domestic and international developments affecting economic trends in the Nation; (2) annual numerical short-term goals for two years, and medium-term goals for the three succeeding years, for employment, unemployment, production, real income, productivity, and prices, consistent with achieving as rapidly as feasible the goals of full employment and production, increased real income, balanced growth, adequate productivity growth, price stability, the reduction of the share of the GNP accounted for by Federal outlays, a balanced Federal budget, and proper attention to national priorities; (3) employment objectives for certain significant subgroups of the labor force, including youth, women, minorities, handicapped persons, veterans, and middle-aged and older persons; and (4) programs and policies to achieve these goals and reasonable price stability as radidly as feasible.

Includes as interim goals in the first three Economic Reports after enactment: (1) the reduction of unemployment among Americans aged 20 and over in the civilian labor force to not more than three percent; (2) the reduction of unemployment among the entire civilian labor force aged 16 and over to not more than four percent; and (3) the reduction of inflation to zero percent, within five calendar years of the first Report.

Provides that, upon achieving the specified goals, each succeeding Economic Report shall have the goals of achieving as soon as practicable, and maintaining, full employment, a balanced budget, and zero percent inflation.

Directs the President, beginning with the first Economic Report, after enactment, to review the numerical goals and timetable for the reduction of unemployment, report to the Congress on any obstacles to their achievement, and, if necessary, propose corrective economic measures toward achievement of such goals and timetable. Permits the President, beginning with the first Economic Report, to recommend modification in such goals or timetable.

Declares that in taking action to reduce unemployment, in accordance with the numerical goals and timetable, every effort shall be made to reduce those differences between the rates of unemployment among teenagers, women, minorities, handicapped persons, middle-aged and older persons, and other labor force groups and the overall rate of unemployment. Directs the Secretary of Labor, insofar as such differences are due to lack of training, to take action as practicable, make studies, develop information, make recommendations towards, remedying such differences in rates of unemployment, and to include these in the annual Employment and Training Report of the President.

Directs the President to incorporate, as part of the five-year numerical goals, annual numerical goals for Federal outlays, consistent with the goal of reducing the share of the GNP accounted for by Federal outlays to not more than 21 percent by 1981 and not more than 20 percent by 1983.

Sets forth the content of the Economic Report, including: (1) analyses of the major aspects of the appropriate composition of short-term and medium-term goals for employment, production, real income, and prices; and (2) specific priority policies and programs to encourage productive, nonwasteful jobs, to help reorder national priorities, and to employ the jobless.

Requires that the President's Budget recommend levels of outlays and receipts which are consistent with the short-term and medium-term goals and provide five-year projections of outlays and receipts consistent with the medium-term goals of the Economic Report.

States that the basic elements in the President's Budget shall be set forth briefly in the Report.

Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to transmit, not later than February 20 and July 20 of each year, an independent written report setting forth: (1) a review and analysis of recent developments affecting national economic trends; (2) the objectives and plans of the Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee with respect to the ranges of growth or diminution of the monetary and credit aggregates; and (3) the relationship of these objectives and plans to the short-term goals in the most recent Economic Report and any short-term goals approved by Congress. Provides that the Board shall consult with the appropriate Congressional committees on these reports and that each committee shall report its views and recommendations to Congress.

Directs the President to initiate specific policies to reduce the rate of inflation, including recommendations to Congress where necessary and recommendations within the Economic Report where practicable. States that structural policies may include: (1) programs and policies for alleviating shortages of goods, services, labor, and capital, with particular emphasis on food, energy, and critical industrial materials to aid in stabilizing prices; (2) encouragement to labor and management to increase productivity within the national framework of full employment through voluntary arrangements in industries and ecconomic sectors; (3) an effective information system to monitor and analyze inflationary trends in individual economic sectors; (4) removal or proper modification of such government restrictions and regulations as add unnecessarily to inflationary costs; (5) recommendations to increase competition in the private sector and to improve the economic climate for the creation and growth of smaller businesses, including the recommendations to strengthen and enforce the antitrust, patent, and internal revenue laws; (6) the establishment of stockpiles of agricultural commodities and other critical materials to help stabilize prices, meet emergency needs, and promote adequate income to producers; (7) increasing exports and improving the international competitive position of agriculture, business, and industry; (8) appropriate incomes policies, if any, including but not limited to, jawboning, wage and price guidelines, tax-based incomes policies, and prenotification and temporary deferral of excessive wage and price increases; and (9) other administrative actions and recommendations as the President deems desirable.

Allows the President to establish an advisory board or boards to advise and consult periodically with the President, the Council of Economic Advisers, and other departments and agencies of the executive branch of the Government. States that such advisory board or boards shall include representation of labor, small and larger businesses and industries, agriculture, consumers, State and local officials, and the public at large.

Directs the Council of Economic Advisers to assist the President in promoting full employment, to consult with such advisory board or boards as may be established, and to seek and obtain cooperation of executive and independent agencies in the development of essential specialized studies.

=Title II: Structural Economic Policies and Programs, Including Treatment of Resource Restraints= - Directs the President to initiate, with recommendations to the Congress where necessary, supplementary programs and policies to accomplish the purposes of this Act.

Requires the President, in undertaking countercyclical efforts, to consider a mechanism which will implement programs during rising unemployment and phase out programs when unemployment is reduced, and to incorporate effective means to help individuals return promptly to regular private and public employment as the economy recovers.

Requires that the President set forth programs and policies to coordinate economic action among the Federal Government, regions, States and localities, and the private sector.

Provides for the initiation of regional and structural policies and programs, including encouraging new private sector production and employment to locate within depressed localities and regions with substantial unemployment. States that such policies and programs shall foster, to the extent feasible, the establishment and growth of smaller businesses, and that any regional employment proposal of the President shall include an analysis of, and correct where necessary, Federal tax, expenditure, and employment policies which have influenced the movement of people, jobs, and industry from chronic high unemployment regions and areas.

Directs the President to improve and expand existing youth employment programs, recommending legislation where required. Requires the President, through the Secretary of Labor, to develop policies and programs to provide job opportunities for individuals aged 16 and over who, despite a serious effort to obtain employment, remain unemployed.

States that the Secretary, after full utilization of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973 and other relevant provisions of law, shall provide counseling, training, and other necessary support activities, refer persons to public and private job opportunities, and insure flexi-time and part-time jobs for persons who are able, willing, and seeking employment but who are unable to work a standard workweek.

Directs the President to provide job opportunities through reservoirs of federally operated public employment projects and approved private nonprofit employment projects to the extent that willing able individuals age 16 and over are not otherwise provided job opportunities.

Sets forth the contents of the Economic Report, including assessments of: (1) existing Federal programs and policies which affect business investment decisions; (2) the effect of the overall economic policy environment, and the rate of inflation on business investment; and (3) Federal policies and programs which directly, or through grants-in-aid to State and local governments, or indirectly through other means, affect the adequancy, composition, and effectiveness of public investments, as a means of achieving the goals of this Act and the Employment Act of 1946.

=Title III: Policies and Procedures for Congressional Review= - Requires the Joint Economic Committee to review and analyze the priorities, policies, and programs recommended by the President and the short-term and medium-term numerical goals set forth in the Economic Report. Directs the Committee to conduct hearings on the Report and allows each standing committee and other committees with jurisdiction to make recommendations.

Amends the Congressional Budget Act to require that on or before March 15 of each year a majority of the members of the Joint Economic Committee of each House submit to their respective Committees of the Budget a report containing approval or disapproval of the short-term and medium-term goals of the Economic Report and appropriate modifications, findings, recommendations, and analyses. Requires each Committee on the Budget to approve or disapprove with explanation these recommendations as part of its report of the first concurrent resolution on the budget. Prescribes procedures for debate on the goals and policies of the Economic Report and for amendment of the concurrent resolution. Establishes procedures for Congressional acceptance or disapproval of a proposed Presidential modification of the numerical goals of the Economic Report.

=Title IV: General Provisions= - Makes general provisions with respect to nondiscrimination, labor standards, and authorizations of appropriations.