LABOR DISPLACEMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY

Change is an inevitable part of every dynamic society. Economicchanges which displace labor include changes in consumer preferenceswhich result in unemployment for those producing goods no longer desired ,technical changes, in which the same product is produced with less labor,and political -economic changes , which cause labor displacement as a director indirect result of a conscious policy decision. Under tradition, publicpolicy, and law, the source of labor-displacing change is a primary determinantof the availability and extent of any "adjustment assistance'' forthose persons displaced.In Europe, virtually all workers are guaranteed some form of adjustmentassistance, including mandatory 30-day notice before severance, severancepay, and (often) retraining and relocation assistance. In the UnitedStates, adjustment assistance is provided as a result of private negotiations(usually between union and management) or because the federal government hasassumed an obligation for those displaced. Collective bargaining agreementswhich provided private adjustment assistance to displaced workers includethe meat-packing automation agreements of the early 1960's and the longshorecontainerization agreements in the late 1950's. Federal adjustment assistanceis provided to those in domestic industries who lose work time oremployment because of import competition and to individuals who may bedisplaced by government-mandated rail or mass transit re-organization, parkexpansion, or environmental protections.Individuals involuntarily displaced typically suffer substantial income(and psychic) losses. Earnings in the year after displacement are oftenonly 50 to 75 percent of earnings in the year before displacement. Individualhardship varies in relatively predictable patterns. Older workers, thosewith fewer skills, those unable to leave the area, and those who are femaleor belong to minority populations suffer the most severe income losses. Theextent and distribution of income losses depends on both individual and areacharacteristics. Area unemployment conditions are most critical in determiningre-employment ease or difficulty, but advance notice, employer-unioncooperation, and the active involvement of local employment service personnelcan reduce the duration of unemployment and improve prospects for satisfyingnew employment.Current concern for the labor displacin3 consequences of agriculturalmechanization results from the nature of labor-displacing change, the lackof private and public adjustment assistance for displaced farm laborers, andthe existence of real income losses among those displaced. Although some700, 000 persons do some farmwork for pay each year in California, the vastmajority work less than 10 days in agriculture. The resulting work patternassures farmworkers multiple sources of income, which limits income losseswhen any single crop harvest is mechanized. In designing and administeringany "adjustment assistance" program for farmworkers, the high proportion of"casual" workers and these multiple income sources make it difficult to avoid a Hobson's choice: exclusion of the casual workforce or providingincentives to many persons to do a few days of farmwork in order to qualifyfor displacement compensation.Some agricultural research is conducted with public monies. If thisresearch results in labor-saving innovations , what responsibility doesgovernment (or its agents) incur for the plight of displaced labor? Ifone adopts the legal notion of culpability, responsibility rests with theinitiator of displacing change, i.e., the university. But if the benefitsof agricultural mechanization accrue to society-at-large, general labormarket assistance can be justified. General adjustment assistance isusually favored by manpower researchers, since it is often more effectiveand efficient and avoids horizontal inequities (providing different benefitsto similarly situated persons).