If You're Stuck In A Part-Time Job, Thank Obamacare
At FreeEnterprise.org they’ve posted these scary jobs numbers from the Federal Reserve showing a sharp uptick in people with part-time jobs, which remains well above pre-recession levels:
According to the New York Times, millions of Americans who want more work hours are stuck in part-time jobs:
In March, 7.6 million Americans who want more hours were stuck in part-time jobs, about the same as a year earlier and three million more than there were when the recession began at the end of 2007.
These almost invisible underemployed workers do not count toward the standard jobless rate of 7.6 percent. A broader measure, which includes the involuntary part-timers as well as people who want to work but have stopped looking, stands at 13.8 percent.
“There’s nothing inherently wrong with people taking part-time jobs if they want them,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago. “The problem is that people are accepting part-time pay because they have no other choice.”
So why are so many Americans not able to find more work? One part of the problem is that Obamacare punishes employers who offer more than part-time hours with heavy new regulations and mandates:
Paul Dales, senior United States economist for Capital Economics, said, “There is another reason to believe that part-time employment will stay higher for longer, namely the incentives to employ part-time workers created by Obama’s health care reforms.”
Starting in 2014, employers that had an average of at least 50 [equivalent] full-time employees in the previous calendar year will have to provide health insurance or face penalties.
This situation will likely worsen as Obamacare is more fully implemented, but the Obama administration is claiming that the law isn’t to blame:
There is nothing in place right now in the legislation that would require any employer to change work hours. And we don’t think there is going to be. So whatever is happening to work hours is impossible to tie to the Affordable Care Act. Because there is no connection here in 2013.
It’s not hard to imagine why the Obama administration, which boasts the least amount of private sector experience of any presidential administration since Dwight D. Eisenhower, wouldn’t understand that businesses are proactive, not reactive.
America’s business owners know what’s coming down the pipe with Obamacare, and they’re taking action to lighten the blow as much as they can before the law is implemented.
Unfortunately, America’s workers are paying the price.
