미국의 근로자 무역조정지원법의 최근 개정내용과 시사점

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (hereinafter ‘TAA’) for Workers offers federally – funded benefits to dislocated who are adversely affected by foreign trade. The current benefits include training subsidies and income support for workers who have exhausted their unemployment insurance. In addition, TAA – eligible workers who are age 50 and over and obtain reemployment at a lower wage may be eligible for a wage insurance program (RTAA) and the Health Coverage Tax Credit (72.5%) is also provided. From the analysis of the U.S. system, several policy implications for the TAA system of Korea are found. Firstly, the social safety net including employment insurance system should be extended toward the direction of providing effective assistance which help workers adapt themselves to the globalized economic environment by enhancing the assistance programs such as the training assistance and relocation or reemployment, rather than providing additional special benefits to the workers who have been suffered from foreign trade. the Secondly, the interests of workers such as the protection of employment should be considered not only in the trade adjustment assistance system for workers but also in that for the firms which is comparatively given a lot of weight in the Korean system. Thirdly, the eligibility of the designated trade adjustment workers which is higher than that of the U.S. system should be less strict given that the Korean system does not provide any direct financial support for those workers unlike the U.S. system, and also it is necessary to find ways to secure diversity and effectiveness of the training program for relocation or reemployment service in order to meet timely the social needs for workforce.