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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, § 2, 60 Stat. 23; Pub. L. 95–523, title I, § 102, Oct. 27, 1978, 92 Stat. 1890.)