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WASHINGTON, DC -- Witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee that improvements are needed to programs that provide important job training, health care and wage assistance to workers who lose their jobs because of U.S. trade policies.
Although help is available to these workers through the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program and other programs, the services are limited and lack adequate funding and, as a result, are often not sufficient to help workers find good jobs, the witnesses said.
TAA is provided to workers whose jobs have been sent overseas or cut due to increased imports. The program assists affected workers with reemployment services, income support, health care coverage through Health Coverage Tax Credits, and funding for career training and education. To qualify for TAA, the Department of Labor must first certify that workers lost their jobs as a direct result of trade, a process that some say is too strict.
"Maneuvering through the Trade Adjustment Act and other programs can be like entering a bureaucratic minefield. One wrong step and you may lose out on your eligibility for benefits," said Dave Bevard, a Maytag employee for 32 years whose plant was closed and moved to Mexico. "While we are grateful for the programs that are available . . . [they] do have serious shortcomings and could be greatly improved."
"Unfortunately, many laid off workers are still not eligible for benefits, and others do not receive the benefits to which they are entitled," said Thea Mei Lee, policy director at the AFL-CIO. "The program must be expanded and improved to ensure that trade-affected workers receive appropriate income support and training to smooth their transitions to new jobs."
Stan Dorn, senior research associate at the Urban Institute, concluded that the Health Coverage Tax Credits program needs to be improved to help those on TAA get affordable health care coverage: "By and large, Health Coverage Tax Credits have been ineffective in providing displaced workers with affordable access to health coverage and essential health care. These problems resulted from design choices in the structure of the credit, choices that Congress could revisit."
Bruce G. Herman, executive director of the National Employment Law Center said, "Both opponents and supporters of free trade and globalization have promoted TAA as a promise to the victims of U.S. trade policy. In reality, TAA has never lived up to its promised role as a comprehensive vehicle for readjustment of those losing work as a result of trade ... We are hopeful that the U.S. economic and political dialogue has finally reached the point that we take seriously the damage caused by globalization and provide real resources and support to the TAA program."
Lael Brainard, director of the Brookings Institution's Global Economy Program, testified that today's workers face an entirely different career environment. "Today's workers are much more likely to transition several times between different employers over the course of their working lifetimes ... a much larger expanse of occupations and sectors are exposed to the bracing winds of global competition-with trade now exceeding 25 percent of national income compared with less than 10 percent in the 1960s."
U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, convened today's hearing to examine ways to strengthen supports for displaced workers.
"When international trade agreements cause American workers to lose their jobs through no fault of their own, we have a responsibility to make sure that they can make ends meet while they find a new job or, in the case of older workers, until they get to retirement," said Miller. "If programs like Trade Adjustment Assistance aren't getting the job done, then we either need to improve them or come up with new ways to support workers harmed by international trade."
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