OBAMAnomics: ObamaCare Fuels Historic Part-Time Work Surge

Over the past year, the ranks of people working part-time jobs by choice — as opposed to business-driven factors — has grown by more than one million, the fastest pace in at least two decades.

The timing with ObamaCare's first year of subsidies to buy health insurance is likely more than coincidental. While analysts on the left and right have sparred over whether businesses have shifted to part-time jobs to limit liability under ObamaCare, no one disputes that the law will lead more people to choose to work part-time. Any disagreement is over whether the law should get credit for making less work possible or blame for making work less financially rewarding.

The number of people working part-time for noneconomic reasons in November was up 1.15 million, or 6.1%, from a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. That's the biggest gain at least since 1994, when a Current Population Survey redesign rejiggered part-time reporting.

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Part-Time Lover

It's impossible to say just how much of the increase stems from ObamaCare. Other factors are important, including solid overall hiring. Even without ObamaCare, one might expect many baby boomers to pare their schedules as they near the end of their careers, though the law makes it more likely by adding health insurance subsidies for those under 65 on top of Social Security.

In February, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that ObamaCare would reduce the supply of labor by the equivalent of 2 million full-time workers by 2017, via some workers choosing to work fewer hours and others choosing not to work at all.

Some will opt to work less because, due to ObamaCare's insurance subsidies, they could do so without being poorer, CBO said. Others will choose to work less because the ObamaCare subsidy phase-out as income rises acts as a tax on extra work, increasing the relative appeal of nonwork activities, the budget office said.

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