Full employment -- which is considered to be about 4-5% as there is always the chronically unemployed and people recently unemployed looking for work -- will be a tough thing to accomplish. You have to look not only at what happened in the last few years to create this economic mess, but you have to go farther back. Very far.
What happened during World War II? Males (mostly) went off to war and the women went to the factories to build planes and tanks. And what happened after the war was over? Women went back into the kitchen and men went back to the factories. In my father's day it was unusual for a woman to work outside the home. I think on our block there was only one working mom, and she was a nurse.
Then in the last three decades of the century women started entering the work force in droves. They started putting off marriage until after they had begun careers. If you were to look at a street in an average subdivision these days what would you see? (Besides much larger houses than my father ever dreamed of having!) You would see just the opposite of what I did when I was growing up. It would be the odd house where the wife didn't have a job outside the home.
But what happened at the same time all this was going on? The computer revolution. I'm old enough to have learned to type on a manual typewriter. I can remember my boss telling me he couldn't foresee a time when everyone would have a computer on their desks. And what did computers do? They upped productivity. By many multiples. At the same time, our manufacturing base went to other countries. Everything from programmers to lawyers are being outsourced overseas. In addition, people are living longer and in some cases wanting (or needing) to work longer as well.
All of this was masked by the fact that we Americans just kept buying stuff.
In short, it's a perfect storm that doesn't bode well for the employment picture.
I will suggest something that may or may not fly with a lot of people, but here goes: if you are lucky enough to be in a position where you don't have to work, try volunteering instead. I personally know several people who don't work for the money, but just for the companionship of being around people and to have something to do. If you are one of those people, there are so many organizations who need volunteers that you are sure to find one that interests you and that needs your time and talents. You could help walk dogs or clean litter boxes at a local animal shelter; read books to kids at hospitals; rock babies in the preemie unit; help build a home for someone who needs one, or shelve books at the local library. You would get the satisfaction of having something to do with your time, of helping others, and you would leave open a job for someone else who really needs one.
Just an idea.
