Federal Trade Adjustment Assistance covers 5,319 Ohioans so far in 2007

As Congress gets ready to debate reauthorization of the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program, a Policy Matters Ohio report finds that the U.S. Department of Labor certified that 5,319 Ohio manufacturing workers at 47 different workplaces lost their jobs due to international trade in the first seven months of 2007. This August 2007 update to our previous January report, International Trade and Job Loss in Ohio 2007, finds that international trade continues to be responsible for a significant number of job losses in the Ohio manufacturing sector. Using administrative data from the TAA program, the report pinpoints where certain trade-related job losses have occurred in Ohio. Twenty-five Ohio counties had TAA-covered job losses in the first seven months of the year. Nearly half of the workers lost their jobs due to shifts of production abroad. Although the TAA program does not cover all layoffs, it establishes a minimum estimate of job loss due to import competition and moving production overseas.

Current trade policies are hurting Ohio’s workers and their families. Congress should take this opportunity to improve the program and provide better protection for our workers and communities.

 

To read the release, click here.

To read our January 2007 report, click here.

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8/24/2007