Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers (TAA)

January 27, 2015
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers (TAA)
Overview and Current Status
Program Benefits
TAA is a program that provides federal assistance to
Training services. TAA authorizes a number of training
dislocated workers who have been adversely affected by
options, though the most common is occupational training:
international trade. Its primary benefits are funding for
training related to a specific occupations, typically
retraining and weekly income support payments while
conducted in a classroom setting. Statute specifies that
affected workers are enrolled in retraining.
TAA-funded training must be available at a reasonable cost
and there must be a reasonable expectation of employment
Rationale. Reduced barriers to international trade are
following completion of the training.
widely acknowledged to offer net benefits by expanding
market access, but they may adversely affect domestic
Trade Readjustment Allowance (TRA). TRA is a weekly
industries and workers that face increased competition.
payment to a worker who has exhausted his or her
TAA is designed to help trade-affected workers adjust to
unemployment insurance (UI) and who is enrolled in a
dislocation resulting from trade liberalization.
TAA-eligible training program. The weekly TRA payment
is equal to the worker’s last UI payment and begins the
Eligibility. A group of workers (most frequently employees
week after the worker’s UI expires. A worker may collect
at a single employer) must apply to the Department of
UI or TRA for the duration of his or her training program,
Labor (DOL) to establish that international competition
up to a combined maximum of 117 weeks, or 130 weeks in
“contributed importantly” to their job loss. After DOL
certain circumstances.
certifies the petition as meeting the statutory requirements,
individual workers covered by that petition receive benefits
Other services. TAA-certified workers may also receive
through state workforce systems and state unemployment
employment-related services such as case management and
insurance agencies.
job search assistance. TAA also provides a job search
allowance and a relocation allowance for workers who
Last reauthorization. Congress last reauthorized TAA
pursue and/or relocate to employment outside of their
under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of
commuting area.
2011 (P.L. 112-40). This reauthorization was aligned with
the passage of 2011 free trade agreements with Colombia,
Program Administration
South Korea, and Panama. In the past, TAA has frequently
been reauthorized alongside other congressional action on
TAA benefits are funded through the appropriations process
international trade.
and administered through state agencies. Training and other
employment services are provided through local American
Current status. The program was set to be phased out
Job Centers (AJCs, see box). TRA payments are made
beginning January 1, 2015, but the FY2015 appropriations
through states’ UI agencies.
law (P.L. 113-235) provided funding for the full operation
of the program, including new certifications, through

FY2015. Reauthorization of TAA is part of ongoing trade
negotiations.
American Job Center Network
AJCs are a network of locally run centers that coordinate
“Reversion 2014.” Between 2009 and 2013, TAA operated
federal employment and training programs, including
under expanded eligibility and benefit provisions. P.L. 112-
TAA. AJCs are run by local workforce investment boards
40 specified that on January 1, 2014, the program would
that partner with employers and government actors to
largely revert to the more restrictive provisions that were in
identify labor needs in the local area and coordinate with
place prior to the 2009 expansion. DOL refers to these
local training providers to meet those needs. Other
provisions as “Reversion 2014.” The TAA program is
federal programs administered through the AJC network
currently operating under the Reversion 2014 provisions for
include Adult and Dislocated Workers programs under
new beneficiaries.
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the
Employment Service under the Wagner-Peyser Act.
Program cost. In FY2015, appropriations for TAA were
$711 million. Appropriations cover estimated program
costs. Actual programs costs vary each year depending on
usage.
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Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers (TAA)
Participation and Outcomes
workers reflects a changing economy and should be made
permanent. Others suggest that it was a temporary
Not all workers who are covered by a certified petition
expansion during a time of above-average unemployment
pursue services and not all workers who pursue services
and should not be renewed.
utilize every available benefit. Figure 1 shows the annual
number of new participants (certified workers who received
Funding level for reemployment services. TAA
an initial TAA service, including case management or job
reemployment services (including training) are a capped
search assistance) and the number of workers who began
entitlement with the funding level established in statute.
training. Since a worker’s enrollment in TAA can last two
Prior to the 2009 expansion and since the beginning of
years or longer, the graph reflects new participants rather
2014, funding for these services was approximately $250
than total participants so that individuals are not double
million per year. Between 2009 and 2013, funding was
counted in either category.
approximately $575 million per year. There is disagreement
as to which funding level should be used as the baseline
Figure 1. New TAA for Workers Participants,
during reauthorization debates.
FY2010-FY2013
Duplication with other programs. Some opponents of
TAA suggest that the program is duplicative and should not
be reauthorized at all since all unemployed workers have
access to employment services through other federally
supported programs. Supporters of TAA reauthorization
note that other programs tend to have limited capacity and
may not provide the intensive services or benefits that are
provided by TAA.
Equity among dislocated workers. Opponents of TAA
point out that it provides a more robust benefit package to
trade-affected workers while other dislocated workers may
have access to more limited programs and benefits.
Supporters of reauthorization argue that trade-related job
loss bears a more direct relationship to government action

(e.g., passage of free trade agreements) than other types of
job loss and thus merits a more direct remedy.
Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training
Administration, http://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/.
Other TAA Programs
In FY2013, 71% of program exiters entered employment
(defined as being employed in the first quarter after
This In Focus discusses the TAA for Workers program. In
program exit). Of the workers who entered employment,
addition to the program for workers, statute also authorizes
90% retained employment for the subsequent two quarters.
smaller programs that provide assistance to firms and
farmers that are adversely affected by international
Since TAA is an entitlement for eligible workers, it has not
competition.
been subject to a random-assignment evaluation by DOL.
• Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms supports
Thus, estimating the impact of the program (i.e., the
trade-impacted businesses by providing technical
differences in employment outcomes of TAA beneficiaries
assistance in developing business recovery plans and
vs. otherwise identical workers who did not participate in
matching funds to implement those plans. FY2015
TAA) is extremely difficult.
funding for TAA for Firms was $12.5 million. For more
information, see CRS Report RS20210, Trade
Key Reauthorization Issues for the
Adjustment Assistance for Firms: Economic, Program,
Workers Program
and Policy Issues, by Mary Jane Bolle.
•
As noted previously, TAA eligibility and benefits were
Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers is
expanded in 2009 through 2013. Prior to 2009 and since
authorized in statute to provide technical assistance and
2014, the program has operated under more-limited
cash payments to trade-affected agricultural commodity
provisions. There is debate regarding which set of
producers. The TAA for Farmers program last received
provisions should be used as the baseline when considering
funding in the first quarter of FY2011. For more
reauthorization.
information, see CRS Report R40206, Trade Adjustment
Assistance for Farmers, by Mark A. McMinimy.
Eligibility of service workers. Between 2009 and 2013,
Benjamin Collins, bcollins@crs.loc.gov, 7-7382
TAA certification was available to workers in production or

services sectors. Prior to 2009 and since 2014, certification
for new workers has been limited to workers in production
IF10109
industries. Some suggest that the expansion to service
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