Word that business leaders are backing a better safety net for U.S. workers displaced by trade is good—if belated—news.

For several years now, it has been clear that the global economy can have frightening effects not only on manufacturing workers but also the services workers who make up the bulk of American jobs these days.

In a study published by the Institute for International Economics in 2005, researchers found that U.S. workers in services industries that can be traded internationally, such as data processing, lose their jobs at a higher rate than workers overall do, and that job loss for them is costly. On average, the study found, full-time workers in tradable services fields who are displaced and then return to full-time work suffer a 21 percent drop in earnings.

Yes, there are many benefits to trade—including lower prices for U.S. consumers and opportunities for workers in less-developed nations. But America often turns a cold shoulder to those of its workers left behind by the global economy. Most glaringly, the U.S. provides skimpy unemployment benefits compared with other developed nations.

There is a program that bolsters the safety net for workers dislocated by trade—providing such benefits as income support, relocation allowances, training and a health coverage tax credit. But the Trade Adjustment Assistance program is of limited help today, because it concentrates on manufacturing industries.

Paltry aid to many of globalization’s “losers” isn’t just callous, it’s counterproductive. Generous benefits and aggressive retraining programs can shore up consumer confidence, stimulate a slumping economy and ramp up workforce skills.

Meanwhile, unemployment jumped dramatically last month, and Americans are reporting significant pocketbook pain. In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, 55 percent of Americans surveyed said their families are worse off financially than they were a year ago—the highest number since Gallup first asked the question in 1976. And with a trade deficit that has topped $700 billion for the last three years, support for trade has dwindled among Americans.

We wrote about the need for business leaders to get off the sidelines in the debate over economic insecurity back in 2006.

The business community took a big step in that direction this week with the launch of a group called the Trade and American Competitiveness Coalition. The group, made up of 26 businesses and trade associations, isn’t endorsing specific legislation, according to my colleague Mark Schoeff Jr. But it wants to see Trade Adjustment Assistance extended to workers in the service sector. It seems the formation of the coalition could help break a logjam over how to renew TAA.

It’s not clear why corporate leaders in the coalition have taken up the cause of displaced workers just now—it may be more out of concern that support for trade deals is faltering than out of genuine empathy for average Americans.

But the exact motivations may not matter. And even if the business community was slow to embrace the issue, it can still do some serious good. Better late than never.