Conclusions

One may summarise these conclusions about the criteria on which rates of pay should be fixed as follows:

First, against the background of financial policies to ensure a steady annual rate of growth in the money demand for labour as a whole and of a battery of fiscal and other policies for the redistribution of income and wealth, the basic criterion for fixing rates of pay should be to promote employment by restraining wage rates which restrict employment below the numbers who seek work in the occupation concerned, but raising rates where this is necessary to attract labour to maintain or expand a needed labour force.