In Support of Permanent Trade Adjustment assistance and Workforce System Redesign
Adopted at the in 2016
WHEREAS, workers in American cities face continuous sector- and occupation-specific displacement due to a variety of economic drivers, including technology, innovation-driven disruption of established markets (including, but not limited to, the sharing economy), and globalization; and
WHEREAS, technology, innovation, and globalization have been conclusively demonstrated to have a significant net positive impact on U.S. employment and income, as jobs are created in new and expanding sectors and as the U.S. strengthens its competitiveness in rapidly growing global markets, but displacement in affected sectors can have devastating impacts on individuals, families, and the communities in which they live; and
WHEREAS, federal and state unemployment systems are inadequate to offset the impact on workers and communities, and they are insufficiently integrated with workforce development, education and training, and trade adjustment assistance programs; and
WHEREAS, federal trade adjustment assistance is typically reauthorized or temporarily expanded only in conjunction with new trade agreements, even though:
- Import-induced displacement is caused by broad, ongoing globalization factors such as logistics, new markets and growing middle-class populations, and technology rather than by trade agreements
- the impacts of globalization are continuous and not confined to sectors covered by trade agreements
WHEREAS, retraining and compensatory benefits for workers displaced by non-import factors such as technology and innovation are even more unsystematic and inadequate, particularly for older workers, causing many Americans to fall through the cracks,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the U. S. Conference of Mayors calls upon the President and Congress to make trade adjustment assistance available to American workers displaced by trade and globalization on a permanent basis rather than as a component of episodic trade agreements, and to significantly increase funding for such assistance; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U. S. Conference of Mayors supports modernization and tighter integration of trade adjustment, general dislocated and displaced worker assistance, workforce development, and unemployment systems to assure both effective retraining for family-supporting careers as well as appropriate compensatory aid to older workers for whom retraining may not be an appropriate intervention.