DOL Releases More than $450 Million Trade Adjustment Assistance Funds
The U.S. Department of Labor has released more than $450 million in Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) funding to states to provide career training, and employment, and case management services to workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing and foreign trade.
"Workers around the nation continue to see their jobs disappear as a direct result of increased imports and competitive trade," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "The funding announced today will help more of these workers upgrade existing skills or retrain for new careers in industries that have the potential to grow in the coming months and years."
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) includes a major expansion and reform of the TAA program to ensure that all U.S. workers negatively affected by trade have the skills, resources, and support to gain new employment.
The Recovery Act authorized an increase in the maximum amount of TAA funds that may be used for training nationwide from $220 million to $575 million. Based on this training increase plus the funding authorized for case management services and administration, DOL is now making a supplemental distribution to the states for fiscal year 2009. This increase will ensure that states have funds available to implement changes made to TAA through the Recovery Act and to serve an increasing number of trade-affected workers.
For more information, visit www.doleta.gov.