ladderAn association of big-company chief executives asked Congress to evaluate the $5 billion it spends on assisting displaced workers and to create a new program that would provide incentives for continuing employee education for all workers.

The Business Roundtable created the America21 plan to ease the anxiety workers are facing in an increasingly global market. Unlike many existing programs, it would apply to workers who still are employed as well as those that have lost their jobs.

“This includes a lot of dimensions of things we do today but more importantly a series of things we don’t do today,” said William Green, Accenture CEO and chairman and Roundtable member. “Globalization is here to stay, a competitive workforce is essential… in my mind it’s just a part of the whole plan which really addresses the competitiveness of the whole country.”

The report, Prospering Together: America’s Citizens, Communities and Companies, lobbies for incentives to encourage the private sector to participate. It advocates for a tax-advantaged fund that individuals, employers and the government could contribute to. A worker could use it on anything from continuing skills training to relocation assistance or health insurance if he lost his job. The plan also calls for resource centers that would provide access to labor market trends, education requirements and assistance information.

The logistics of such a plan are undecided but members of the group called on Congress to create a commission to evaluate existing programs and outline the new one.

John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, said the goal is to provide “whatever is necessary for that person to move from the job that he/she currently has to a better job.”

Some programs such as the Trade Adjustment Assistance program provide similar benefits to specific workers who have lost jobs. Roundtable members were quick to point out they supported such programs but that a long-term solution was needed to maintain and educated workforce and remain competitive.

“We’re concerned about really the demonization of international trade that is out there,” said Jim Owens, CEO and chairman of Caterpillar Inc. and Roundtable member. “There’s a real danger that the U.S. will turn to isolationist policies that we absolutely know will not work.” –Sara Murray