# Humphrey-Hawkins *The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, a United States federal statute that sets numerical employment and inflation targets.* The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978, known informally as Humphrey-Hawkins, is a United States federal statute. President Jimmy Carter signed it on October 27, 1978.[^1][^2] It is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 3101.[^2] It names four national goals: full employment, growth in production, price stability, and balance of trade and budget.[^2] The Act set numerical targets. Unemployment was not to exceed 3 percent for people 20 and older. Inflation was to fall to 3 percent or less and reach zero by 1988, "provided that its reduction would not interfere with the employment goal."[^1] The Federal Reserve's institutional history records that [[Hubert Humphrey]] proposed two further provisions. One would have had the government provide jobs if the goals were not met. The other would have required the Federal Reserve to respond within fifteen days. The history states: "Neither proposal passed."[^1] The project's dossier records that the targets were not met on the statute's timetable.[^1] It also finds no consequence in the enacted statute for missing them.[^1] ## Who Representative Augustus Hawkins and Senator Hubert Humphrey drafted the Act. They acted in response to rising unemployment in the 1970s.[^2] President Carter signed it into law.[^1] The statute assigns duties to two offices. The President must state numerical goals for the coming fiscal year in the *Economic Report of the President* and propose policies to reach them.[^2] The Board of Governors of the [[Federal Reserve]] must conduct monetary policy that supports long-run growth and price stability. It must report on that policy to Congress twice a year. Its Chairman must relate monetary policy to the President's economic program.[^2] ## What The project's dossier identifies the Act as Public Law 95-523, 92 Stat. 1887.[^1] The statute commits the federal government to rely mainly on private enterprise to reach its four goals.[^2] It directs reasonable steps toward a balanced budget. It also directs the government to avoid both trade surpluses and trade deficits.[^2] Congress amended the Act twice, each time through a rider on other legislation:[^2] - **May 10, 1979.** Public Law 96-10, attached to H.R. 2283, added federal outlays as a share of gross national product to the factors used in calculating the numerical goals.[^2] - **November 5, 1990.** Public Law 101-508, attached to the Pollution Prevention Act, changed the deadline for the *Economic Report*. The report became due within 20 days after Congress convenes, not 10 days after the annual budget is submitted.[^2] ## When The Act's predecessor was the Employment Act of 1946. That law asked the federal government to pursue "maximum employment, production, and purchasing power" in cooperation with private enterprise.[^2] In the early 1970s, unemployment and inflation both rose. Some members of the House then sought to replace the 1946 Act's general language with firmer terms.[^2] The signing came on October 27, 1978.[^1] The project's dossier dates it nine months and fourteen days after Humphrey's death at [[Waverly]].[^1] The Act's inflation target of zero was set for 1988.[^1] ## Where The Act is federal law, codified in Title 15 of the United States Code.[^2] The project's dossier connects it to Minnesota through its Senate author. It records that Humphrey lived in Wright County, died at Waverly, and is buried in [[Minneapolis]].[^1] ## Why The sponsors held a Keynesian view: public intervention could raise demand and bring the economy to full employment.[^2] Carter administration economists pressed for an inflation target in the bill, among them the Council of Economic Advisers. They relied on the Phillips curve, which posits a trade-off between unemployment and inflation.[^2] The Act provides for public job creation, on the model used in the Great Depression.[^2] It also calls for monetary policy that restrains inflation and supports employment through management of the money supply.[^2] Its broader aim was to formalize and enlarge Congress's part in economic policy alongside the President and the Federal Reserve.[^2] Assessments of the result differ. One view holds that the Act's explicit requirements make it stronger than the 1946 law. Another holds that its four possibly competing goals displaced full employment as the single primary aim.[^2] ## How The Act operates through reports and stated goals: - The President's annual numerical goals.[^2] - The Federal Reserve's semiannual report to Congress.[^2] - The Chairman's duty to connect monetary policy to presidential policy.[^2] The two mechanisms Humphrey sought would have attached consequences to missed goals: government job provision and a fifteen-day Federal Reserve response. Neither was enacted.[^1] The project's dossier states that no party was sanctioned for missing the targets.[^1] ## How much The statutory targets were as follows:[^1] - **Unemployment:** no more than 3 percent for those 20 and older. The project's dossier also lists a 4 percent overall figure. - **Inflation:** 3 percent or less, reaching zero by 1988, subject to the employment-goal proviso. ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue entry AI-Humphrey-094 sets the Act's targets beside the later sequence of events.[^3] It and the project's dossier state the following: - [[Volcker]]'s disinflation of 1979–83 pushed unemployment above 10 percent. - The same policy cut inflation from over 13 percent to roughly 3 percent by 1983. The entry observes that the two goals were reached in sequence and in the opposite order. It also notes that they were reached through a body the statute did not name and could not compel. The entry lists federalreservehistory.org as its source domain. For contrast, it pairs the 1978 statute with a 2025 presidential action published by the White House.[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Federal Reserve History, *Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 (Humphrey-Hawkins)* (n.d.) — the enacted unemployment and inflation targets and the 1988 proviso, the October 27, 1978 signing, and that Humphrey's job-provision and fifteen-day Federal Reserve response proposals did not pass. Public law number, signing interval, outcome and Minnesota details are cited to the project's validated dossier (HHH_Waverly_Apex_Dossier_2026-09-02.md §IV.7), which relies on this essay. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/humphrey-hawkins-act [^2]: Wikipedia, *Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act* (revision 1337590300, retrieved 2026-10-27) — sponsors, codification at 15 U.S.C. § 3101, four goals, statutory duties of the President and Federal Reserve, background, and the 1979 and 1990 amendments (Public Law 96-10; Public Law 101-508). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey%E2%80%93Hawkins_Full_Employment_Act [^3]: The White House, *Presidential action* (2025) — anchor document of at-issue entry AI-Humphrey-094; cited for the pairing only, not for the 1979–83 economic figures. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/modernizing-payments-to-and-from-americas-bank-account/