TRADE READJUSTMENT ALLOWANCES (TRA)

BASIC PROGRAM INFORMATION

LEGISLATIVE OBJECTIVE.-To provide allowances to workers who are unemployed or underemployed because of the adverse effect of increased imports resulting from trade agreement concessions.

DATE ENACTED.-The current program is authorized under the Trade Act of 1974. The program was initially authorized in 1962 under the Trade Expansion Act.

ADMINISTERING AGENCY.-The Department of Labor through State employment security agencies.

FINANCING.-States are responsible for meeting the costs of benefits for which workers would be eligible under existing State unemployment insurance. Benefit amounts over and above that level are paid by the Federal Government out of general revenues.

MAJOR ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS.—(1) The individual's unemployment or underemployment must have begun (a) on or after the date certified as the beginning of the import-caused unemployment affecting his group, (b) within a 2-year period following the date of certification for his group, and (c) before the termination date (if any) of such certification. (2) The individual must have been employed at a minimum of $30 per week by an import-affected firm for at least 26 of the 52 weeks immediately preceding total or partial separation. (3) An individual must have been totally separated from his employment or partially separated—that is, the individual's hours of work must have been reduced to 80 percent or less of his average weekly hours of work and his wages must have been reduced to 80 percent or less of his average weekly wages.

Eligibility determinations are initiated when a group of workers from a firm or their authorized representative petition the Secretary of Labor for a determination of eligibility to apply for adjustment assistance. The Secretary will certify a group of workers as eligible to apply for adjustment assistance if he determines (1) that a significant number or proportion of the workers in a firm have become totally or partially separated, or are threatened to become totally or partially separated, (2) that sales or production of the firm have decreased, and (3) that increases of imports of articles like or directly competitive with articles produced by the workers' firm contributed importantly to

such total or partial separation or threat of separation and to the decline in sales or production.

PERSONS INCLUDED.-Eligible persons are included in the program. INCOME TEST

Income limits. The earnings plus unemployment insurance, trade readjustment allowance, and training allowance of the affected worker must not exceed 80 percent of his previous average weekly wage (or 130 percent of the average weekly manufacturing wage if less).

Treatment of income. The trade allowance is reduced (1) by 50 percent of the amount of remuneration for services performed during the week, and (2) by 100 percent of the amount of Federal-State unemployment compensation (UC) or training allowance the individual has received or is seeking for the week. If the total amount payable (from UC, training allowances, remuneration for services performed, and trade readjustment allowances) to a worker for a week exceeds 80 percent of his average weekly wage, his trade readjustment allowance for the week is reduced by the amount of excess (see table 1).

TABLE 1.-TREATMENT OF INCOME UNDER TRADE READJUSTMENT ALLOWANCES (TRA) PROGRAM

Benefits decline by 50 cents for each dollar of gross earnings. Further, the trade allowance plus earnings cannot exceed 80 percent of the previous average weekly wage.

2 Benefits decline by $1 for each dollar of UC and training allowances.

Subsistence benefits to a maximum of $15 per day are available to those engaged in training programs.

Reimbursements for transportation to training facilities outside commuting range are available at the rate of 12 cents per mile.

Relocation allowances on a lump-sum basis are payable to a totally separated worker, who has no reasonable expectation of securing work in the area in which he lives, who has a bona fide offer of work which is neither seasonal nor temporary, in the area in which he desires to locate.

Accounting period. The accounting period for this program is weekly.

ASSETS TEST.-There is none.

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OTHER CONDITIONS

Work requirement. Provisions of the unemployment insurance law of the TRA-paying State regarding the worker's availability for work and conditions leading to disqualification from benefits apply to any worker who files a TRA claim. (See section on the Federal-State unemployment compensation system for further information.)

Acceptance of training or rehabilitation.-An individual who, without good cause, refuses to accept or continue, or fails to make satisfactory progress in suitable training to which he has been referred by the State agency is disqualified from receiving TRA payments. Citizenship. There is no requirement.

Residence requirement. The paying State is the State under which the individual is entitled to unemployment insurance or if he is not entitled to unemployment insurance, the State in which he was last totally or partially separated from adversely affected employment. Once determined, the paying State remains the same unless the claimant subsequently becomes eligible for unemployment insurance in another State, or unless he subsequently has another total or partial separation from adversely affected employment in another State.

CASH BENEFITS

BENEFITS AND SERVICES

Primary determinants of amount of benefit.-The weekly allowance equals 70 percent of an individual's average weekly wage but not in excess of the average weekly manufacturing wage. In December 1974 the maximum allowance was $108 per week.2 The average weekly wage is one-thirteenth of the individual's total high quarter wages. The high quarter is that quarter among the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters in which the individual's total wages were highest.

Reduced trade readjustment allowance.-The trade allowance is reduced (1) by 50 percent of the amount of remuneration for services performed during the week, and (2) by 100 percent of the amount of unemployment insurance or training allowance the individual has received or is seeking for the week.

Allowances are payable up to 52 weeks.-A worker 60 years of age or older who has been separated from adversely affected work may receive up to 26 additional weeks of allowances. Up to 26 additional weeks of benefits may be paid to permit the completion of approved training if the training begins before the end of the 52-week period. The maximum weeks of TRA entitlement are reduced 1 week for each week in which the individual has received unemployment insurance or training allowances under any Federal law. In 1973, the average weekly benefit was $55, and benefits were received for an average duration of 35 weeks.

Other benefits.-Supplemental benefits include subsistence and transportation allowances related to training and job search and relocation allowances. An adversely affected worker may receive

1 The average weekly manufacturing wage is the national gross average weekly earnings of production workers in manufacturing industries for the latest calendar year as officially published annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor and which is most recently published before the period for which assistance is furnished. 2 Based on national average weekly earnings in 1973 of $165.65.

subsistence and transportation allowances while attending training to which he has been referred if such training is conducted at a facility which is not within commuting distance of his residence and if he is not receiving such assistance under another Federal law. The maximum rate of subsistence pay is $15 per day. The transportation rate is 12 cents per mile.

Job search allowances of up to 80 percent of expenses or a maximum of $500 may be granted to assist an adversely affected worker in securing a job in the United States if the worker has no reasonable expectation of securing suitable employment in the commuting area in which he resides.

Relocation allowances of up to 80 percent of expenses or a maximum of $500 are payable to a totally separated worker, who has no reasonable expectation of securing work in the area in which he lives, and who has a bona fide offer of work, which is neither seasonal nor temporary, in the area in which he wishes to locate. Relocation allowances consist of a lump-sum payment and expenses incurred in moving the worker, his family, and household effects to the location of his new job.

OTHER SERVICES PROVIDED OR AVAILABLE.-Counseling, testing, training, referral service, and placement service are provided to recipients.

COMPENSATION TO VETERANS WITH A SERVICE

CONNECTED DISABILITY

BASIC PROGRAM INFORMATION

LEGISLATIVE OBJECTIVE. To compensate veterans for disabilities incurred because of military service.

DATE ENACTED AND MAJOR CHANGES SINCE ENACTMENT.-This program derives from the War Risk Insurance Act of 1917. Since 1958 benefits have been raised six times, increasing payments for a veteran with a 100-percent disability and no dependent by 160 percent, as follows: $225 per month in 1958, $250 in 1962, $300 in 1965, $400 in 1970, $495 in 1972, and $584 in 1974. An amendment effective in 1973 equalized compensation rates for disabilities incurred in wartime 1 and in peacetime. Previously rates had been 20 percent lower for peacetime disabilities.

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ADMINISTERING AGENCY.-The Veterans' Administration, Department of Veterans Benefits, through regional offices.

FINANCING.-Open-ended Federal appropriations that provide for direct payment to beneficiaries.

Administrative costs (chiefly salaries) were estimated at $23,431,000 in fiscal year 1973, $24,384,000 in fiscal year 1974, and are projected at $25,295,000 in fiscal year 1975.

In June 1974, benefits were paid to 2,210,756 disabled veterans and 731,407 dependents of disabled veterans (of whom 335,385 were wives, 379,902 children, 13,131 dependent mothers, and 2,989 depend ent fathers). The total number of veterans in civilian life in June 1974 was 29,265,000, of whom 7.5 percent received disability compensation. It is not known how many other veterans qualified but did not apply for these benefits.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

MAJOR ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS.-A veteran must have contracted a disease, suffered a nonmisconduct injury, or aggravated an existing disease or injury, in the line of active duty, and have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. Drug addiction as a primary condition is not considered a service-connected disability by this program.

1 Wartime duty: the Mexican border period, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean conflict, and the Vietnam era.

2 Peacetime service: periods from July 5, 1902, through May 8, 1916; Nov. 12, 1918, through Dec. 6, 1941; Jan. 1, 1947, through June 26, 1950; and Feb. 1, 1955, through Aug. 4, 1964.