Dislocated Workers: Improvements Needed in Trade Adjustment Assistance Certification Process
HRD-93-36
Published: Oct 19, 1992. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 1992.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Labor's certification process for the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, focusing on: (1) Labor's investigation of petitions; (2) state assistance to workers in filing petitions; and (3) Labor's application of TAA eligibility criteria.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| If Congress does not adopt the President's proposal, it may wish to consider other alternatives for streamlining the certification process. One alternative it may wish to consider would be to, in effect, modify the legislative definition of "contributed importantly." | Congress is unlikely to change the legislation. However, the Department of Labor has taken action to streamline the certification process. Therefore, GAO considers action to have been completed and recommend closing out this recommendation. | |
| Given the difficulty in conducting customer surveys, Congress may wish to consider modifying the legislation to allow imports to be deemed to have "contributed importantly" when imports of like or directly competitive products have increased across the market without showing that the employer's customers have shifted to purchasing imported products. This would significantly streamline the certification process and reduce the burden on Labor's investigators. However, this could also result in more dislocated workers becoming eligible for assistance and thus, increase the cost of the TAA program. | Congress has not taken action on this 1993 recommendation. |
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Topics
Data collectionEligibility determinationsEmployment assistance programsEntitlement programsstate relationsIncome maintenance programsState-administered programsUnemployment compensation programsWorkersTrade statistics