Full Employment in a Green Society

This article is an attempt to re-conceptualise Full Employment. The UK context is the main geographical focus. A normative route to the rehabilitation of Full Employment is offered - recast here as ‘Green Full Employment’ - utilising a variety of Green perspectives from sociology, politics and economics. This contribution to the debate about Full Employment is ‘normative’, because without ethical values we may lack a moral compass to motivate policies. Green Full Employment is presented here not simply as a potential ‘active labour market’ policy, but as a contributory facet of the on-going ‘Green Industrial Revolution.’ Inevitably, this reconceptualization raises questions about the value of many forms of contemporary work and what purpose they serve. The potential resistance of neoliberal forces to Green Full Employment is noted, before future lines of research are suggested.