The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program will cease to exist unless Congress takes action to extend current law before February 12. We need your help to make sure they do!TAA is one of our most important workforce development programs, providing trade-impacted workers with training, income support, and other benefits to weather layoffs and get the skills they need to find new jobs and careers in emerging and high-growth industries. Under the Recovery Act, Congress made a number of key improvements to the program, including:
These improvements have been crucial to the program—42 percent of workers currently covered by TAA qualify for the program due to the 2009 amendments, and an estimated 155,000 dislocated workers who otherwise would not have been eligible have received benefits and services under the program. Reflecting the surging demand for skills training and work supports in the wake of rapidly escalating job loss across the country, a record 97,888 TAA participants enrolled in training in Fiscal Year 2010 (compared to 57,949 in FY 2009 and 37,753 in FY 2008). Congress passed a temporary extension of the law extending the Recovery Act amendments through February 12, 2011. Unfortunately, due to a drafting error in the final bill, if Congress fails to act before the current extension expires, the entire TAA for Workers program will be eliminated—not just the expanded benefits and eligibility. If this is allowed to happen, it will severely limit access to occupational training and education for trade-impacted workers at a time when—despite continued record-high unemployment—U.S. businesses often struggle to find workers with the skills they need to support our nation’s still fragile economic recovery. We need you to weigh in with your lawmakers today. Please click here to send them a letter urging them to support a long-term extension of TAA. |
Filed under: Ohio |
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