ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of alternative types of worker assistance and retraining and to try to identify which strategies appear to work most effectively in assisting displaced workers. The Act provided for income support, jointly administered by the federal government and the states, and a labor exchange system in the form of the Employment Service to aid workers in seeking new jobs. Trade Adjustment Assistance provides income support to workers who become unemployed due to foreign trade and import competition. An alternative, yet complementary approach to addressing worker dislocation is the provision of positive adjustment assistance, in the form of job search instruction, peer search support, retraining, or relocation assistance. A common thread of explanation for the high performance and low cost of these positive adjustment assistance programs resonates throughout the studies examined. Positive adjustment assistance strategies appear to offer the greatest promise of short and long-term social benefits.
