In the past few years NOW has told the stories of manufacturing workers, technology workers and small business people who have lost livelihoods to overseas competition. In 2002 the President signed the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002 (TAA), an update to a earlier program to aid workers displaced by the North American Free Trade Act. There are now calls for the act's provisions to be extended to service workers whose jobs are lost when a community experiences an economic downturn due to outsourcing or industry closure.
Below is a state-by-state listing of labor department information and "One-Stop" state Web sites, which serve dislocated workers. Just click on your state or use the pull-down menu. Use the map to get information about your state's employment laws, unemployment compensation, job listing and to find names and contact information for local officials.
For example the Colorado Workforce Web site profiles the employment needs for each county in the state. Connecticut provides a "Rapid Response Team" for communities about to be hit by layoffs. Many state Web sites also feature programs designed to assisted business owners in retaining their companies and workers through partnership program and tax incentive programs.
