The Federal Writers' Project was an arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Franklin Delano Roosevelt's massive program to put the unemployed back to work. The Writers' Project was charged with producing an extensive guidebook for each of the 48 states; and more than 6,000 local newspaper writers, novelists, poets, college professors, and…

A study examined and evaluated both public and private efforts to assist dislocated farmers, with particular emphasis on employment and training programs. The study found that about 46,000 farmers are currently leaving farming each year, and the rate probably will continue for the next several years. Since the majority of the farmers who leave…

Argues that provision of training for the unemployed is driven by capitalist economic policy and political choices about participation in the global economy. The gap between aims and outcomes of programs for the unemployed is integral to the restructuring of the economy that is taking place. (SK)

An array of innovative policies has been suggested to address more effectively the needs of dislocated workers. A model has been proposed to simulate the impacts of a wage-rate subsidy (or salary supplement) program in which a dislocated worker who becomes reemployed would receive a payment equal to one-half the difference between the wage…

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is a benefit paid to workers who lose their jobs in industries that face increasing competition from imported goods. TAA is supposed to offset political pressures for protectionist legislation, and it has been justified on grounds of equity and efficiency as well. Research on TAA shows that it has failed to aid…

This review presents a summary of the research on displaced worker programs and implications and recommendations for practice that the research supports. Chapter I is an overview of the displaced worker problem. It considers the extent of worker displacement and job loss and summarizes future projections. Chapter II discusses existing programs for…

Worker displacement is more closely related to structural features associated with firms than to the characteristics of the individuals who lost their jobs. Despite economic growth, large numbers of displaced workers continue to experience difficulty in making labor market adjustments. Programs to retrain and reemploy displaced workers exist at…

This report concentrates on problems of displaced blue-collar and nonprofessional white-collar workers. Chapter 1 is a summary. Chapter 2 discusses policy issues and options focused on helping people prepare for worklife changes and helping workers to cope if displacement occurs. A definition and description of worker displacement are offered in…

This report describes job training and placement programs offered by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) for members dislocated by plant closings and job reductions. The first part of the booklet provides general information about the Steelworkers' worker assistance programs, including program summary, program principles, the comprehensive…

This report is an overview of the current status of farmers in the U.S. economy, with an emphasis on the characteristics of displaced farmers, the reasons for their displacement, the effects of their displacement on the economy, and some policy recommendations for the future. Following an executive summary, the report is organized in five…

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) was founded in 1986 with the intent of widening the debate on U.S. economic policies by presenting analyses that provide an alternative point of view from those of various conservative research institutions. The two papers presented in this document were originally prepared for a seminar designed to identify…

This compilation is intended to assist the general public in gaining a further understanding of the work of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources to provide legislative assistance to Americans who are economically disadvantaged or structurally unemployed. The texts of the following pieces of federal legislation are included: the Job Training…

A study examined the experiences of some 1.4 million American defense industry workers, displaced in the wake of the Cold War, as a way of reviewing and evaluating national policies toward worker adjustment and re-employment as they have evolved in the 1990s. The study found that the federal government, through the Department of Labor,…

This document contains three papers from an international conference on "ways and means for more employment." The first paper, "Employment Policy Comparisons and Policy Advice" (Ulrich Walwei), covers the German labor market in the second half of the 1990s and requirements for longer-term employment success through coping with…