CBO: Obamacare slowing growth, costing 2.3M jobs
February 04, 2014, 10:15 am
By Erik Wasson

The new healthcare law will cost the nation about 2.3 million jobs by 2021 and contribute to a $1 trillion increase in projected deficits, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a report released Tuesday.

The nonpartisan agency’s report found the healthcare law’s negative effects on the economy will be “substantially larger” than what it had previously anticipated.

The findings from the nonpartisan agency immediately roiled the debate over the healthcare law on Capitol Hill ahead of a midterm election that Republicans hope will be dominated by the fight over ObamaCare.

It triggered a swift pushback from the White House, which sought to dismiss suggestions from Republicans that the healthcare law has contributed to a slower economic recovery.

The CBO is now estimating the law will reduce labor force compensation by 1 percent from 2017-2024 — twice the reduction it previously had projected. This will decrease the number of full-time equivalent jobs in 2021 by 2.3 million, the CBO said. It had previously estimated the decrease would be 800,000.

The budget scorekeeper said this decrease would be caused partly by people leaving the work force in response to lower wages offered by employers and increased insurance coverage through the healthcare law.

The agency also said employer penalties in the law would decrease wages, and part-year workers would be slower to return to the work force because they would seek to retain ObamaCare insurance subsidies.