Obstacles for Workers and Job Creators

We are a nation that embraces hard work and opportunity. Since our founding more than 237 years ago, American trailblazers have shown time and again that success is possible in our great land—a promise that has been passed on to each and every generation.

In the midst of a broken economy, however, our labor force today is struggling and job creators are often unable to provide or generate new jobs. While there are numerous contributing factors to our poor employment situation and economic recovery, Obamacare continues to negatively affect both employers and employees.

Most recently, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published a report that specifically highlighted problems for workers, stemming from the presence and implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to the CBO report released last week, “CBO’s updated estimate of the decrease in hours worked translates to a reduction in full-time-equivalent employment of about 2.0 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024, compared with what would have occurred in the absence of ACA.” While CBO doesn’t expect employers to eliminate jobs in this instance, the report anticipates that many labor force participants will work fewer hours or choose not to work at all, due to “new taxes and other incentives they will face and financial benefits some will receive.” This could cause a decline in hours-worked, equivalent to those belonging to 2.5 million workers.

Beyond the disincentive to work full-time hours, CBO also reported remarkably high revenue and a large deficit. The report showed revenue is set to overtake its historic average of 17.4 percent of GDP this year. And while House Republicans have helped lead efforts to significantly reduce the national deficit, CBO warned that we are on a path that would cause our deficit to reach more than $1 trillion by 2022.

In addition to the findings in CBO’s latest report, the U.S. Department of Labor released its latest jobs report on Friday. Like most months, there was no real progress or noticeable improvement to the employment situation. While the unemployment rate declined to 6.6 percent, it is important to remember, yet again, that this statistic is flawed in its measurement because it doesn’t account for those who are underemployed and those who have resorted to part-time work or given up looking for work altogether. The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR), which reports those currently participating in the workforce, improved only slightly to 63.0 percent (up from 62.8 percent in October and December).

While the job environment still looks bleak, the Keystone pipeline construction project can contribute positively to our recovery. However, the president continues to let precious time go by without leading on this issue. Extensive and needless studies undertaken by the State Department, have revealed the pipeline would have little or no impact on the environment. In fact, at the end of January, the State Department issued results of its latest study that again determined little or no impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Unfortunately, nearly 2,000 days since TransCanada requested a permit and despite bipartisan support for the project, the president continues to ignore the request and refuses to sign off on construction. Building this pipeline would bring more than 100,000 jobs to Americans, without spending hardworking taxpayer dollars, and it would boost domestic energy production.

In light of our economic and employment situation, any opportunity that creates jobs without costing taxpayers anything or hurting the environment should be welcomed. Otherwise, we’ll continue to walk slowly on the road to real recovery.