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Trade Adjustment Assistance




In the early 1960's the US government began providing trade adjustment assistance for factory workers who lost jobs due increased imports. However, the program was rarely used until 1974, when it was expanded as part of the Trade Act of 1974. In 2002, the program was again expanded and combined with the trade adjustment program provided under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The program is administered by the Department of Labor. In order to qualify for trade adjustment assitance, a group of workers must show that they lost their jobs due to increased imports of the type of articles they produced, or that their employer has moved production to another country. Under the current law, workers in service jobs (call center operators, for example) are not eligible for trade adjustment assitance. In 2004, a group of computer experts displaced by overseas labor tried to apply for trade adjustment assitance but were rejected because software is not considered an "article" by the Department Of Labor .