Trade Adjustment Assistance: Trends, Outcomes, and Management Issues inDislocated Worker Programs

摘要

Concerns about the effects of the globalization of national economies and therapid pace of economic change have focused attention on federal programs designed to assist U.S. workers displaced by foreign trade and increased imports. Federal efforts to provide such assistance began with the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. They were enhanced by the Trade Act of 1974 and the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act of 1993. The Trade Adjustment Assistance program covers workers who lose their jobs or are threatened with job loss because of imports from any country, while the North American Free Trade Agreement Transitional Adjustment Assistance program covers only workers who have lost jobs because of increased imports from, or shift of production to, Mexico or Canada. Workers can be certified under both programs but must choose one from which to claim benefits. These programs aim to help workers to obtain new jobs by providing benefits such as trade readjustment allowances (extended income support), job training, and job search and relocation allowances. The Department of Labor administers both programs and makes determinations regarding worker group eligibility. You asked us to assess how these two programs have met the needs of workers affected by greater foreign trade and increased imports and to identify potential program improvements. Our specific job objectives were to examine (1) the recent trends in worker certifications and the extent to which program services and benefits have been used, (2) the extent to which the program helped workers become reemployed and maintain prior wages, (3) the budgetary implications of extending program benefits to new groups of workers, and (4) program structure and management issues affecting the delivery of assistance to trade-impacted workers. To address these objectives, we surveyed 20 states representing about 76 percent of all workers certified under these programs between October 1, 1994, and December 31, 1999; analyzed available Department of Labor program data on services and benefits provided to certified workers; and identified the potential impact of expanding the program under different economic assumptions.