Displaced workers' aid program bogs down

[Khephra]

Displaced workers' aid program bogs down

By LARRY MARGASAK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- A federal program touted as the answer to helping displaced workers find new jobs has been bogged down, with assistance delayed for months, congressional investigators report.

Twenty-five states say Labor Department tardiness has forced them to delay or deny emergency assistance to workers who are notified their jobs are being eliminated.

Legislative aides who crafted the legislation said the aid was supposed to reach workers before they left businesses that are laying off employees or closing operations.

Instead, the help often is held up more than three months, or it never materializes, Congress' General Accounting Office reported this month after surveying the states.

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