Assisting Workers Displaced by Structural Change: An International Perspective

Leigh provides a summary of the evolution of labor market programs in seven industrialized countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. He points out that a number of these nations are dealing with long-term unemployment by linking unemployment insurance benefits to participation in labor market programs, and that this is a requirement U.S. policy makers should examine closely. He also performs informal cross-country evaluations of these countries' programs, focusing on policies he feels merit attention. A three-level active labor market program is then proposed for the U.S.