America is hurting for jobs. And if you’re looking for one, here’s how Obamacare is hurting you.

Obamacare is keeping businesses from hiring.

We already knew that many employers plan to cut workers’ hours to stay under the threshold of Obamacare mandates. This makes full-time jobs—much less full-time jobs with health benefits—harder to come by.

It’s more difficult to track the phantom jobs that just don’t exist today because of Obamacare’s strain on employers. But the latest report from the Federal Reserve confirms that they are all too real.

The Federal Reserve collects feedback from businesses and issues reports about the economic outlook. Its latest report directly links Obamacare to a lack of hiring. In fact, it cites Obamacare’s mandates and regulations 10 times.

Examples from the report (emphasis added):

“Many contacts also commented on reluctance to expand due to uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act; some employers cut hours or employees.” “A number of contacts voiced concern about the uncertainty surrounding future employer and employee healthcare costs.” “There is anxiety about rising health insurance premiums [among manufacturers], which was attributed to the Affordable Care Act.”

This lines up with a recent Gallup survey reporting two-fifths of small business owners have held off on hiring because of Obamacare. As Heritage expert James Sherk summarizes: “For the next several years, Obamacare will also make it harder for workers who want jobs to find them.”

Not just today—the “next several years.”

For Americans seeing their premiums go up or their health coverage dropped, trouble finding a job would be a double whammy.

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