CONSEQUENCES OF PLANT CLOSURE.

Pre- and post-shutdown annual earnings reported to the Social Security Administration are used to measure the economic impact of plant closure on the income of workers exercising different vocational choices. Workers who sought new jobs in the local labor market suffered substantial reductions in post-shutdown annual earnings. With the influence of age, skill, sex, seniority, education, race, and pre-shutdown earnings held constant, short-term training did not improve the situation significantly. Workers who elected the interplant transfer option increased their annual earnings by more than $2,000, suggesting that government support of measures to increase the use of interplant transfers should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]