Update on the Action Agenda
Released in April 2005, Gaining a Foothold: An Action Agenda to Aid North Carolina’s Dislocated Workers presented 10 major recommendations for improving federal, state and local response to worker layoffs and plant closings. Most require legislative action or cooperation and collaboration among multiple partners.
Specific steps taken to date include these on:
Recommendation 1: Ensure that North Carolina workers affected by trade have access to federal services.
The U.S. House and Senate are considering bills that closely resemble the recommendations in the Gaining a Foothold report. The House version, H.R. 1729, was introduced U.S. Reps. Robin Hayes and Mike McIntryre with nine other N.C. cosponsors, Reps. McHenry, Coble, Price, Etheridge, Butterfield, Myrick, Shuler, Miller and Watt. Sen. Elizabeth Dole introduced a companion measure in the Senate, S. 1652. The bills have been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Meanwhile, authorization for the Trade Adjustment Assistance has expired. A temporary measure allows the program to continue through Sept.30 without the reforms being sought. The Rural Center, working with the North Carolina Congressional delegation and others, continues to advocate for the program’s reauthorization and expansion.
Recommendation 2: Reform unemployment insurance policies.
As part of the 2005 Employment Security Commission Omnibus Act (S. 757), the N.C. General Assembly reduced the chances that the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted by another economic downturn. Previous legislation required that the unemployment insurance tax rate be cut in half when the trust fund reserves exceeded $800 million. The 2005 legislation established a formula that resets the trigger point according to the size of the overall North Carolina payroll. The current trigger point is more than $2 billion.
Recommendation 3: Provide stable funding for job training and services, and home protection programs.
Many of these core services have been funded by interest earned on the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund reserves. Periods of high unemployment thus jeopardize the programs when they are most needed. The 2006 N.C. General Assembly moved the state apprenticeship program into the recurring budget at a funding level of $663,374. Several other programs received sizeable, but nonrecurring appropriations. Notably, local offices of the Employment Security Commission received $6 million for fiscal year 2005-06 and $7 million for 2006-07. The increase in 06-07 helped replace some of the lost federal funding.
The General Assembly also has appropriated funds to continue and to expand the N.C. Home Protection Pilot Program and Loan Fund, which helps dislocated workers avoid home mortgage foreclosure. The 2007 appropriation was $1.5 million. With the latest appropriation, the N.C. Housing Finance Agency expanded the program from 26 counties to 61. The agency manages the program in partnership with local counseling organizations.
From the program's start in 2004 through June 2007, it provided 219 families with bridge loans worth more than $2.2 million. The zero-interest loans can be used to bring a mortgage current or keep it current for up to 18 months while the homeowner participates in an approved retraining program. Those families and nearly 100 more benefited from a 120-day stay of foreclosure. In all, some 500 households received housing counseling, foreclosure intervention or legal services.
In March 2008, the Housing Finance Agency also received a $3 million federal grant to support local foreclosure prevention efforts by 20 nonprofit counseling agencies. These local organizations serve 90 counties across the state. The grant is expected to allow them to help 6,000 to 8,000 homeowners in danger of losing their homes.
Recommendation 4: Enable community colleges to respond to emergency demands.
The General Assembly created a community college reserve fund to provide immediate help for sudden enrollment growth, with a total of $3.9 million appropriated over two years. The action agenda called for an $11 million fund.
Recommendation 5: Ensure that dislocated workers have full access to information about available resources.
N.C. Rep. Garland Pierce and the Center for Community Action in Lumberton cosponsored a Dislocated Workers Summit to spread the word about available resources for dislocated workers in Scotland, Hoke and Robeson counties.
Recommendation 7: Establish a career readiness certificate program for North Carolina workers.
At the time of the agenda's release, the state Community College System was creating a program to provide dislocated workers credentials certifying skill levels, which can be especially important to those with less formal education. At the end of July 2007, 34 community colleges were participating and had awarded 6,714 credentials. A dozen more colleges will be added to the program in coming months.
Recommendation 8: Establish an economic disaster plan for communities hit hard by layoffs.
A Dislocated Worker Task Force established by the Commission on Workforce Development developed a proposed “economic transition plan” for affected communities. The draft plan is included in the overall task force report. In addition, the Rural Center has developed a white paper for mobilizing the nonprofit community's response to layoffs that parallels recovery programs for natural disasters. It is seeking funds to conduct pilot programs in local communities. The Rural Center's model program would dovetail with the broader economic transition plan developed by the Dislocated Worker Task Force.
