The congressional analysts say there will be fewer workers because healthcare subsidies would “reduce incentives to work” and pose an “implicit tax on working” for those returning to a job with health insurance.
President Barack Obama’s health law will cut the US workforce by the equivalent of more than two million workers, budget analysts say.
The reductions will begin in 2017 after the law’s provisions take full effect, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in its report.
Lower-income workers will be hardest hit, limiting their hours to avoid losing federal subsidies.
Conservatives and the White House promptly clashed over the findings.
In Tuesday’s report, the nonpartisan CBO said work hours would be reduced by the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time workers by 2021. It had previously estimated the health law would result in 800,000 fewer workers.
‘Making it worse’
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, will result in a slower rate of employment growth over the next decade, according to the findings.
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