The Obamacare Effect On Employment

Obamacare was signed into law on March 23, 2010. As shown in the following chart, the job market recovery basically stopped the following month:



Coincidence? Somehow I doubt it. A few reasons why Obamacare discourages hiring, according to this Weekly Standard article:

• “Businesses with fewer than 50 workers have a strong incentive to maintain this size, which allows them to avoid the mandate to provide government-approved health coverage or face a penalty;

• “Businesses with more than 50 workers will see their costs for health coverage rise — they must purchase more expensive government-approved insurance or pay a penalty; and

• “Employers face considerable uncertainty about what constitutes qualifying health coverage and what it will cost. They also do not know what the health care market or their health care costs will look like in four years. This makes planning for the future difficult.”