Estimated Impacts for Participants in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program Under the 2002…

“In the wake of amendments to the TAA program, enacted as the Trade Act of 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) funded a comprehensive Evaluation of the TAA Program, designed to document the program’s implementation and assess the ability of the program to achieve its goal of helping participants find rapid and suitable reemployment. This report, one of a series produced as part of the evaluation, focuses on the latter objective, by describing results from an impact analysis, using a statistically-matched comparison group and a four-year follow-up survey. The report addresses four central research questions:

• “How effective was the 2002 TAA program in improving access to reemployment services and education and training services and in helping participants obtain educational credentials?

• “How effective was the 2002 TAA program in boosting participants’ employment and earnings and in improving their access to jobs that offer better pay and fringe benefits? In particular, does TAA boost participants’ employment and earnings in the fourth year after job loss (the last year of the observation period, and the primary outcomes for the evaluation)?

• “How effective was the 2002 TAA program in promoting access to health care coverage and in reducing receipt of other forms of government assistance?

• “How did the 2002 TAA program’s impacts differ among participants with different demographic and local area characteristics and among those who access different types of TAA services?

“The impact analysis was conducted using samples from 26 randomly selected states, of TAA participants and matched comparison group of workers in the manufacturing sector and from the same local areas. Both groups were Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants who were separated from their jobs over the same period in 2005 and 2006" (p.xv). (Abstractor: Author)

Full Publication Title: Estimated Impacts for Participants in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program Under the 2002 Amendments

• “TAA led to increased receipt of reemployment services. • “Participation in TAA was associated with large increases in receipt of education and training and the attainment of educational credentials. • “Impacts of TAA on engagement in any productive activity were small. • “The main impact study findings used the comparison sample of UI claimants and showed that, in the final year of the follow-up period, TAA participants had lower earnings than the comparison group, but worked about the same number of weeks. • “Impacts for employment and earnings were more positive comparing participants to UI exhaustees. • “Impacts on employment and earnings may be more favorable for TAA participants who received training than for those who received income support without training. • “Impacts on employment and earnings became statistically insignificant by the end of the follow-up period for younger participants, but were persistently negative for older participants. • “When TAA participants returned to work, they had lower wages and were less likely to have access to fringe benefits than their comparisons. • “Among TAA participants who received occupational skills training, 37 percent were employed in the occupations for which they trained. • “Participation in TAA was associated with changes in income from sources other than the workers’ own earnings. • “Participation in TAA was associated with decreased health insurance coverage in the period following job loss. • “Participation in TAA did not impact family structure" (p.xvi-xviii). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2012
• Author(s): D’Amico, Ronald; Schochet, Peter Z.; Berk, Jillian; Dolfin, Sarah; Wozny, Nathan
• Organizational Author(s): Social Policy Research Associates; Mathematica Policy Research
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
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• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies