21st Century Worker Opportunity Act

21st Century Worker Opportunity Act

This bill requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to implement a program that provides displaced workers with a subsidy or coupon for a lump sum payment of $500 that may only be applied towards: (1) broadband Internet access service, or (2) remote job training in a profession not likely to be automated in the next 20 years.

A "displaced worker" is defined as an individual who, due to automation of machinery that replaces human labor, has been terminated or laid off from employment or who has received a notice of termination or layoff from employment.

To be eligible for the program, a displaced worker who has been laid off or terminated must submit a certification from an employer that the worker was employed in the manufacturing sector and was laid off or terminated due to the automation of the position of the worker.