ObamaCare part-time employment by the numbers
The rollout of the president’s signature legislation has been a calamity, as it further threatens the prospects of the lowest-wage workers in Illinois and across the country. There is mounting evidence that employers have already been cutting employees’ hours in the low-wage employment sectors. This trend has been observed in Illinois – and among the...
The rollout of the president’s signature legislation has been a calamity, as it further threatens the prospects of the lowest-wage workers in Illinois and across the country. There is mounting evidence that employers have already been cutting employees’ hours in the low-wage employment sectors. This trend has been observed in Illinois – and among the very populations that that can least afford to bear these cuts – which is why the partial delay is welcome news in the president’s home state.
My recent Forbes.com op-ed documents hours cut in 13 or 14 states where data are available. In Illinois, for example, the three employment sectors that fall into both the lowest-paid and lowest work hours categories are: retail trade, food and beverage, and general merchandise. They comprise about one-fifth of the state’s total employment. Of these three sectors, all three now have average work hours below 30 hours per week, which is how the new law defines full-time employee.
Between 2011 and 2013, Illinois has lost the equivalent of about 63,000 jobs in these sectors through reduced work hours. That is close to the total number of jobs added in all sectors in the state over the past year.
Thirteen of these states grew in overall retail sector employment during this time period. Why might employers be cutting work hours?
Under the law’s employer mandate, employers with 50 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalents are required to offer “qualified and affordable” health insurance coverage to their employees. This provision of the law was supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, 2014, but was delayed this past summer for one year by the Obama administration and was recently delayed again for another year for those employers with 50-99 full-time or full-time equivalent employees. That is why the president’s employer mandate delay for smaller companies is great news for the many states that can ill-afford to lose any additional jobs or job prospects.