> It seems just as odd to most of the first world as well.

I think it doesn't seem as odd as you might think. When people talk about the economy, they talk about putting everyone in jobs, not ensuring everyone is productive. It's a subtle distinction, but I think it's an important one. For many people, the metric of a good economy seems to be what fraction of the population work from 9-5, rather than how much people produce.

To be fair, I am stretching the applicability of the original article farther than the author probably intended.

The distinction between these makes explicit what a "jobs program" does: increases employment, without increasing productivity.