Trade Adjustment Assistance: Program Provides an Array of Benefits and Services to Trade-Affected Workers

Manufacturing workers face an uncertain future as manufacturing employment declines--more than 3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country since 2000, many due to international trade. Furthermore, finding a new job may be harder for these workers because they tend to be older with have fewer transferable skills than other laid-off workers. The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was established in 1962 to assist manufacturing workers who lose their jobs because of international trade. In 2002, the Congress made a number of key changes designed to expand benefits and decrease the time it takes to get workers into services. This testimony draws upon several GAO reports, including our most recently issued TAA report and our case study of five layoffs, and provides an overview of (1) how the TAA program operates, (2) recent trends in the Department of Labor's (Labor) certification of petitions, (3) the extent to which workers participate in training, (4) the extent to which workers take advantage of other TAA benefits, and (5) what is known about TAA program outcomes. We are not making new recommendations at this time. Labor generally agreed with the findings and recommendations in our referenced reports.