According to IBD …
Retailers – prepping for the ObamaCare mandates — are cutting workers’ hours and reclassifying them as part-timers.
Here’s the data …
Retailers’ non-supervisory employees logged an average 30.0 hours per week in April … the lowest number in years.
While retailers’ rank-and-file employment is up 132,000, or 1%, over the past year, aggregate hours worked have fallen 0.9% over that span.
All evidence points to the coming launch of ObamaCare, which the retail industry has warned would cause just such a result.
Starting in 2014, employers will face nondeductible fines of up to $3,000 per full-time worker who gets subsidized coverage via ObamaCare exchanges because qualifying coverage isn’t available via the workplace.
Next year’s fines will be influenced by staffing levels in the second half of 2013.
One way for employers to minimize the costs of providing “affordable” coverage to modest-wage workers is to shift more work to part-time, defined as less than 30 hours per week under ObamaCare.
Many companies have said they’re considering a shift to more part-time work.
Now, beyond the anecdotal reports, the ObamaCare effect is becoming evident in official data.
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Side Note: when employees get shifted to part-time status to duck the ObamaCare mandates, they often lose any non-health insurance benefits that they might have been receiving … e.g. educational allowances, 401k matches.
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