Worker Adjustment Assistance Under the Trade Act of 1974

Congress has recognized that increased imports resulting from expanded international trade could adversely affect certain workers and firms within the United States and has directed that segments of the economy affected by increased import competition receive various forms of monetary and nonmonetary adjustment assistance. The Worker Adjustment Assistance Program is administered by the Department of Labor through State employment agencies and provides eligible unemployed workers with weekly allowances; training, counseling, and job referral; and job search and relocation allowances. As of June 30, 1976, 149,800 workers from the auto industry were certified as eligible to apply for adjustment assistance.

Few automotive industry workers took advantage of the training, job search, and relocation benefits through the adjustment assistance program because most layoffs in the industry were considered temporary, and most workers were either back to work or willing to wait for recall rather than accept another job. Most of the workers had returned to work long before their adjustment assistance payments were received. When the payments were received, a large part of the money was used to repay the company/union supplemental unemployment benefit fund. Program benefits were not always distributed equitably because of problems in identifying specific workers separated from jobs because of import competition. Some auto workers received program benefits for layoff periods unrelated to import competition.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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