White House Outlines Plan to Help Job Seekers Obama administration officials said a proposal to consolidate two existing job training and placement programs would help hundreds of thousands of people get training they need to find work. Job seekers examining a bulletin board at the One Stop Career Link Center in San Francisco. The plan would combine the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which provides training and aid to workers who lost their jobs because of foreign competition, and the Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Worker program, which offers some benefits to those who lose their jobs for other reasons. The proposal, called the Universal Displaced Worker Program, would assist as many as one million workers with counseling and job searches. "Too many Americans do not know where to go or who to call when they need help with re-employment," Gene B. Sperling, director of President Obama's National Economic Council, said Monday on a conference call to outline the plan. About half of the workers eligible would be able to use $4,000 a year in assistance to pursue skills for jobs in new industries. About 150,000 workers were able to finish training under the existing programs, according to the administration. The change requires legislation by Congress and it would be paid for by combining what is now spent on the two programs with an additional $28 billion over 10 years, as outlined in Mr. Obama's budget for the 2013 fiscal year. Mr. Sperling said the plan broadened the definition of a displaced worker so that more people would get the higher benefits received for jobs lost to foreign competition. Mr. Sperling said that while the economy was improving, some people had lost jobs that were not coming back and needed new skills. The president's 2013 budget includes $50 million to make it easier for the jobless to get access to employment centers, including online access.