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CBO reports 2 million could exit the workforce as a result of Obamcare

As predictable as the groundhog forecasting 6 more weeks of winter, Obamacare critics have misreported, either out of ignorance or malice, the Congressional Budget Office report on the Affordable Care Act's impact on the labor force.

Less predictable was top news organizations also misreporting the CBO's conclusions, leading to the New York Times and Washington Post issuing corrections.

No such corrections will be forthcoming from Obamacare critics who continue to tout in their talking points the false assertion that the CBO concluded Obamacare would kill 2 million jobs.

What the CBO actually found was that Obamacare could result in 2 million fewer workers, not 2 million fewer jobs. The CBO predicts "a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than...a net drop in businesses' demand for labor."

In other words, many may exit the work force by choice as result of Obamacare for a variety of reasons. Some are expected to leave jobs they didn't like and took only because it provided health benefits or it was a 2nd job they needed to be able to afford their own health insurance, pre-Obamacare. Others who took full time hours only to get health benefits may shift back to part time hours, such as students or those caring for parents or children.

However, to the dismay of Democrats running in the midterms, the misperception that the CBO said Obamacare would kill 2 million jobs, is likely to be the reality many voters will believe and remember.