CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf testified before the House Budget Committee today, and said that Obamacare will reduce the number of jobs in the labor market by an estimated 800,000. This revelation came in response to the following question from Rep. John Campbell:
You just mentioned that you believe, or that in your estimate, that the health care law would reduce the labor used in the economy by about 1/2 of 1 percent … That means that, in your estimation, the health care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in ’20-’21. Is that correct?
And here’s Elmendorf’s answer:
Yes. The way I would put it is that we do estimate, as you said, that…employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade. Half a percent of that is 800,000.
Watch it and weep:
He also hinted that the number might be higher because Ocare creates incentives that reduce the “propensity to work” for certain segments of of the labor force. IOW, the net benefit of employment will be so low for some that they’ll choose not to be productive.
Wonderful.
[via The Blaze]
Comments 3
Utter nonsense. What he said was that if people can get reasonably priced health insurance, some will reduce their working hours below the point where they would otherwise lose insurance from their employer. And people who are working only to get insurance, might quit.
The jobs are still there. Some people would work less or quit altogether.
And you say you’re for choice.
Posted 11 Feb 2011 at 3:01 am ¶WRONG MARC – DUH
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49273.html
CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee on Thursday that the health care law will reduce employment by 0.5 percent by 2021 because some people will no longer have to work just to afford health insurance.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49273.html#ixzz1DhJ2hGlO
Posted 11 Feb 2011 at 6:51 pm ¶DUH
‘CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee on Thursday that the health care law will reduce employment by 0.5 percent by 2021 because some people will no longer have to work just to afford health insurance.’
Yes, that’s what I said. That’s their choice not to work. It’s nothing to do with jobs.
Posted 12 Feb 2011 at 8:29 am ¶Post a Comment