The Patriot Post® · Survey Says ObamaCare Is a Job Loser

The views of economists run the gamut of the political spectrum, but most agree raising the cost of keeping employees would eventually hurt the job market. So it’s no surprise that, according to surveys conducted by three different branches of the Federal Reserve, ObamaCare is crushing jobs and stalling any chance at recovery.

In the Philadelphia district, 18.2% of businesses queried said they’re cutting jobs and employees, just as a similar number are taking the same steps in the New York district. Meanwhile, a separate questionnaire from the Atlanta Federal Reserve found that 34% of those businesses are planning to hire more part-time workers than they have in the past in order to keep people under the magic 30-hour threshold.

Even if employees are keeping their hours, increasing insurance costs are either coming out of their paychecks or being passed along to customers. More than one-third of manufacturing firms, as well as 20% of service companies, in the New York area reported their health care costs were “a lot” higher this year than last year. Of course, “a lot” is subjective and leftists would argue insurers are using ObamaCare as an excuse to raise their rates unnecessarily. Try as they might, though, they can’t give a valid explanation as to why the job market remains so rough five years into this “recovery.”

A July White House report pegged half of the persistent decline in labor force participation to an aging population. Some of the rest is due to a “cyclical decline in line with historical patterns in previous recessions,” and about one-third is blamed on “other factors, which may include trends that pre-date the Great Recession and consequences of the unique severity of the Great Recession.” Or the reason could be the unconstitutional and wrong-headed overhaul of an imperfect but functional benefit system that was satisfactory to both employers and employees. Instead of addressing the unemployment situation early in his term, Barack Obama assumed the government would create “shovel-ready” jobs through his stimulus program and concentrated instead on cramming through the “Affordable” Care Act.

Meanwhile, some on the Left choose to believe that, as “settled law,” ObamaCare is losing its effect as a campaign issue this fall based on the reduction in the number of ads devoted to it, something we pointed out last week. While this decrease in advertising emphasis is real, the truth is that ObamaCare is still unpopular and will once again become a hot topic when 2015 insurance rates are announced sometime this fall. Democrats will try two things: Keep what are expected to be astronomical increases under wraps until after the election, or spin price hikes as milder than they would have been without ObamaCare or with Republicans in control of Congress.

In fact, ObamaCare is even messing with America’s pastime. A Cubs-Giants baseball game was practically ruined when there weren’t enough employees on hand to bring out the tarp during a rain storm. The reason: ObamaCare cutbacks in employee hours.

The ObamaCare ad slowdown is more a reflection of the vast array of other issues on which to run against the president – immigration, foreign policy and the perception Barack Obama has “checked out,” for starters.

So you can bet your bottom dollar – if you have any dollars remaining from trying to make ends meet in this sluggish economy – that there will still be a good share of ads from both sides, Republicans promising to address ObamaCare and Democrats finding a few fortunate souls who benefit from the law. It’s doubtful any of those Democrats will be seeking out the employers who have to shoulder these increased costs and break the bad news about job losses and cuts in hours to their employees.