Adjustment Assistance

Adjustment Assistance

Any program whereby a government helps to retrain workers whose jobs or careers have been rendered obsolete. Adjustment assistance may be provided when a technology makes a job redundant. More commonly, however, adjustment assistance refers to programs a government designs when it pursues policies antithetical to a particular line of work. For example, a country may pursue free trade policies that result in outsourcing to other nations, requiring adjustment assistance for laid off workers. Adjustment assistance is controversial, especially because it is unlikely that older workers will be rehired even after training.