ABSTRACT
Growth has slowed, inflation is high and economic disparities within and between nations remain large and are increasing. A substantial advantage of this, as compared with the mere income-maintenance programmes of the past, is that it provides direct incentives for job creation and should help to compensate workers for the loss of 'job-specific skill earnings' when they accept jobs in different activities. The developing countries, through UNCTAD and the GATT, should press for research and action on improving trade adjustment assistance and the linking of such action to the use of emergency safeguard restrictions of imports by OECD nations. The objective is to encourage enterprises which have long-term viability and to help firms to move out of activities which are already, or soon will be, uneconomic. The evidence suggests that, to date, few of the official adjustment schemes in operation in the OECD nations have been effective in speeding the movement of import-displaced workers into new jobs.
