Part-Time Jobs Were 185% of the New Jobs Created in June

By Rich Miner

That’s right.  Of the 195,000 new jobs created in June, 360,000 were part-time.  Full-time jobs actually shrank.  These numbers were abysmal.  However, the White House, the media and Wall Street pundits extolled the jobs numbers as being solid, a very good report and a sign that the economy was improving to the point that the Federal Reserve would be able to begin to taper its monthly purchase of $85 billion in bonds and treasuries.   But a more careful look at the jobs numbers would show that the total payroll number was 135.9 million jobs, or still 1.6% below where they were 5-1/2 years ago before the recession started.  To make matters worse, the labor force has been increasing by about 120,000 a month during all those years.  So far in 2013 only 130,000 new full-time jobs have been added.  The remaining 557,000 of the alleged ‘solid’ jobs increase have been part time.  “Great Jobs News For Part-Timers,” Investor’s Business Daily, 7/8/13, p. A18.

According to Ray Stone, Managing Director of Stone & McCarthy Research, in the first quarter many of the new jobs were in manufacturing and construction, but in the second quarter most of the new jobs have been in retail, leisure and entertainment and have been largely part time.  He said the composition of the jobs growth was very disappointing.

There are many reasons for the number of full-time jobs being replaced by part-time jobs, such as uncertainty about the economy, new Government regulations, bureaucratic overreaching, Obama’s endless Executive Orders, but the biggest reason is ObamaCare.   Employers can avoid the penalty of not providing ObamaCare to part-time workers if they keep their hours at less than 30 a week.  In addition, many employers, who may very well be providing health insurance under current law, may not want to incur the higher cost of providing ObamaCare and can avoid doing so by cutting their employees to part time.   Providing shifts of part-time workers is less difficult for low-skill jobs, such as in the fast food industry.

For example, Charles Payne reported on “Fox and Friends” on 7/5/13, that Clarence Otis, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants, which operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden and other restaurants, said that ObamaCare would cause him to redefine work and move people from 40 hours to 29 hours.  These are people with minimum skills, who are trying to work their way into the work force and gain skills as they go, and ObamaCare will force them to take a big hit.

Furthermore, according to “Fox and Friends Saturday,” 7/6/13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the real unemployment rate known as U6 actually increased from 13.8% in May to 14.3% in June.  U6 takes into consideration part-timers who want full-time work, employees who are overqualified for the job and discouraged workers who have quit looking for work.  In addition, according to Tucker Carlson only 47% of Americans have full-time jobs.  Id.  That means that approximately 12% of the civilian population is working part time.  See, BLS Employment Summary Table A., 7/5/13.

McKinsey & Co. reported that 45% of college graduates today have jobs that don’t require college degrees.  “Great Job News For Part-Timers,” Id.  Often the first full-time job can set the pace for the person’s entire career, and now their educations are being wasted waiting tables.  Young people are being hit very hard with an unemployment rate of 16.1% among 18- to 29-year-olds, plus 1.7 million who have dropped out of the work force.  Id.

It is clear that Obama’s policies of trillions of dollars in pork-laden spending and the Fed’s policies of endless “Quantitative Easing” have not been much help to the employment picture and the economy.  Besides, these policies have had negative effects, such as unsustainable debt and a Fed balance sheet that has ballooned out of control.  That balance sheet must be unwound and may burst in the process.  In addition, Obama’s higher taxes, his constant demands for more taxes on job creators, his excessive regulations, his unconstitutional executive orders, his class warfare and his attacks on the free market system have all made employers afraid to hire new employees.  But the greatest cause of this horrible jobs report is ObamaCare.  This 2,700 page incomprehensible legislation, with countless pages of regulation that are constantly growing at the dictates of Kathleen Sebelius, encouraged employers to hire primarily part-time workers and to cut full-time workers back to 29 hours a week.

More Unions Speak Out Against ObamaCare

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is now the latest union to come out against the dangers of ObamaCare threatening certain current employee health care plans.  The IBEW ran ads on Roll Call and The Hill, in which they quote Obama’s July 16, 2009 statement in which he said, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor.  Period.  If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your current health care plan.  Period.  No one will take it away.”

The ad says the Affordable Care Act threatens multiemployer health care plans.  The ad continues, “For over 65 years, multiemployer plans have provided affordable, quality coverage to more than 26 million Americans and their families….  Because it does not recognize the unique nature of multiemployer plans, the Affordable Care Act contains provisions that could undermine this American success story and reduce the number of working families covered and lower the quality of their care.”  The ad also contains this catchy phrase in all caps, “KEEP YOUR PROMISE, LET US KEEP OUR PLANS.”

According to IBEW’s president Edwin D. Hill, “[Our] members and allied employers have worked hard for the healthcare they have, and President Obama must move now to guarantee that his signature law will not cost them their coverage.”  In addition to the IBEW, in recent months unions like the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UNITE HERE have all been looking for alterations to the law.  Caroline May, “Another union decries Obamacare’s impact on members’ healthcare coverage,” The Daily Caller, 7/11/13.

Joseph Hansen, President of UFCW called on Obama to help his members keep their coverage by extending subsidies to their current plans.  Hansen said, “The ACA offers a subsidy to lower-income individuals and families so they can afford to purchase this insurance.  As many of our members fall into this category, we believe the subsidy can and should apply to their plans.”  Id.   Mr. Hansen also said, “It makes an untruth out of what the president said, that if you like your insurance, you could keep it.  That is not going to be true for millions of workers now.”  Billy Hallowell, “Why Are Some Labor Unions Turning Against Obamacare and Calling for ‘Repeal’?” The Blaze.com, 4/24/13.

United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers have called for “repeal or complete reform of the Affordable Care Act” in order to protect their plans.  Kinsey Robinson, President of the UURWAW said in a statement, “For decades, our multi-employer health and welfare plans have provided the necessary medical coverage for our members and their families to protect them in times of illness and medical needs. This collaboration between labor and management has been a model of success that should be emulated rather than ignored. I refuse to remain silent, or idly watch as the ACA destroys those protections.”  “Another union decries Obamacare’s impact on members healthcare,” Id.

Multiemployer health plans, known as Taft-Hartley plans, cover certain union workers in such industries as retail and construction with seasonal or temporary employment.  In these plans unions and small businesses pool their resources and offer workers continuous coverage, even during temporary unemployment periods.  The AC A has added costs to these already costly plans.  “We’re concerned that employers will be increasingly tempted to drop coverage through our plans and let our members fend for themselves on the health exchanges,” said David Treanor, director of health care initiatives at the International Operating Engineers Union.  “Why Are Some Labor Unions Turning Against Obamacare and Calling for ‘Repeal’?” Id.  “Harold Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Firefighters, said unions have been forceful in seeking solutions from the Obama administration, but none have been forthcoming.”  Id.

The Unions tried and failed in behind the scenes efforts to get Obama to unilaterally change the law, which Congress feels Obama cannot Constitutionally do.  So, as the Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com, 7/12/13, reported on July 11, 2013, James P. Hoffa, General President of The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Joseph Hansen, Internal President of the UFCW and D. Taylor, President of Unite-Here sent a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi stating:

“When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.  * * *

 “Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios:

“First, the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week.   ***

“Second, millions of Americans are covered by non-profit health insurance plans…. Under the ACA…our employees will…not be eligible for subsidies afforded other citizens. ***

 “On behalf of the millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support, we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans….”

Stuart Varney, the host of Varney & Co., said on “America’s Newsroom” Fox News Channel, 7/16/13, that when you have lost the Unions you have lost the original supporters of the ObamaCare bill.  Stuart can’t think of anyone who is left to support ObamaCare.

Obamacare’s Federal Exchanges Do Not Provide Security Or Verification

Breaking news: the Federal Health Care Exchanges that are supposed to be operational on October 1, 2013 have failed their security protection tests.  Friday August 2, a Health and Human Services inspector general report disclosed that the HHS is months behind schedule in making sure that there is security for the new data hub for the Obamacare Exchanges.  This report indicates HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee last April to the effect that the ACA’s data hub was “basically complete” was at variance with the truth.  Furthermore, HHS has not obtained most of the required service-level agreements from seven other government agencies that will be receiving the public’s information.  “ObamaCare’s Risk To Your Privacy,” Investor’s Business Daily, 8/8/13, p. A12.  According to Larry Kudlow, this new report “admits there is no security firewall protecting your data from hackers, identity thieves and many other federal agencies.”  Larry continued, “The whole security system has not been tested.”  Larry’s guest Dr. Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute said the hub will be working on the honor system and the portal where the public enters their personal information to enroll in insurance plans will be at even greater risk.  That means that people who try to buy health insurance on the Exchange will expose their social security numbers, finances, age, health records and various other information to anyone who wants to steal it.  It will be an open invitation to identity theft.   The Kudlow Report, CNBC, 8/7/13.  IBD stated, “If the hub isn’t sufficiently secure when the exchanges open up, it will create a huge opening for identity thieves and other such criminals.”  Representative Patrick Meehan (Pa.-R) described the exchange situation as, “A honey pot for hackers.”  “ObamaCare’s Risk To Your Privacy,” Id.

Twenty-six states, all with Republican Governors, have refused to set up state Obamacare exchanges, forcing the Federal Government to set up exchanges for those states.  Approximately seven other states have opted for federal-state partnership exchanges.  In New Jersey, Republican Governor Christie vetoed legislation by the Democrat controlled legislature establishing a state-run health care insurance exchange.  Christie stated that he was committed to comply with Obamacare “only in a manner that is the most effective and efficient for the residents of New Jersey, and the businesses that will carry the costs of this new program.”  Christie also said that the Federal Government is best equipped to operate the exchange.  “GOP governors reject ObamaCare health exchange partnerships,” Fox News.com, 2/17/13.  In rejecting both a state-run Obamacare Exchange and a federal-state partnership, Republican Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of HHS, stating the partnership exchange model doesn’t answer his concerns over “aggressive federal timelines, a lack of true flexibility for states, and misguided federal policies.”  Id.  Florida passed the deadline for running its own exchange and Republican Governor Rick Scott also rejected partnering with the federal government stating, “We continue to be concerned about the many unknowns impacting the cost of operating an exchange, and simply do not have enough information to make a decision about running one at this time.”  Id.

However, there are a couple of problems with the Federal Government running Obamacare Exchanges.  For one, the federal government was caught flatfooted, because the Obama Administration had assumed that the states would all set up their own exchanges.  Second, Obamacare did not provide for funding of health care subsidies under Federal Exchanges.  Furthermore, under Obamacare the employer penalty is not imposed on the employer until one of its employees applies for the Obamacare subsidy.  Oklahoma’s Attorney General Scott Pruitt was quick to pick up on this quirk in the Obamacare legislation and brought a lawsuit to stop the IRS from issuing the subsidies/tax credits and collecting the penalties/taxes that Congress had not legislated into law.  Oklahoma’s lawsuit challenging the IRS’s authority to spend tax dollars and levy penalties without authorization from Congress is raising a legitimate Constitutional principle.  Simply put, the executive branch cannot Constitutionally collect a tax that Congress has not created through legislation, just because it suits the president’s and his party’s left-wing agenda to do so.  The Federal Government’s creating its own exchanges within states would appear to violate the 10^th Amendment.  However, even if the Federal Government can set up its own exchanges within the states, it has no authority under the ACA to use them to offer subsidies and inflict the accompanying punitive taxes.  “On Obamacare, Oklahoma Leads,” National Review Online, 6/4/13.

All told some 33 states have refused to create their own separate exchanges, including Oklahoma.  Therefore, the residents of those states are not eligible for exchange subsidies, and its employers are not subject to the associated punitive tax.  The law was intentionally written to deny subsidies to states that refuse to create exchanges, in order to pressure the states into setting up their own exchanges.  The Democrats simply failed to anticipate that the majority of states would refuse to create exchanges, despite the taxpayer funded subsidies.  However, the Obama administration, which has demonstrated a habit of disregarding the rule of law, is proceeding as though it has the legal right to offer subsidies and impose penalties in states that have refused to create exchanges.  Id.  In Halbig v. Sebelius, four individual taxpayers and three employers are also challenging the IRS’ authority to issue subsidies and collect punitive taxes under the same theory as the Oklahoma case.  “Halbig v. Sebelius: ‘All of Obamacare Hangs on the Outcome,’” Cato Institute Forum, 6/17/13; Gabrielle Karol, “New Lawsuit Filed Against ObamaCare,” foxbusiness.com, published 5/3/13.

There are at least twenty unconstitutional provisions in Obamacare, and the regulations being issued to enforce Obamacare are raising additional serious concerns and in some cases lawsuits or Congressional action.  For example, the Independent Advisory Board (IPAB), as known as Death Panels, violates Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution, which vests all legislative authority in the Congress.  Thus, IPAB constitutes an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to fifteen unelected cronies of the president.   For now, Kathleen Sebelius is acting as a one person self-appointed Death Panel, as we saw in the Sarah Murnaghan case of a ten year old girl being denied a lung transplant by Sebelius.  There is no right of appeal to an administrative denial of health care, which constitutes an unconstitutional violation of administrative “due process.”  Some twelve lawsuits have been filed by colleges, universities, hospitals and other institutions alleging that regulations issued by Sebelius under Obamacare violate the First Amendment’s Freedom of Religion.  Furthermore, Obama’s defining what constitutes a religious entity is an additional violation of the First Amendment.  Obamacare’s allowing the IRS warrantless searches of personal financial records violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches.     Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution provides that, “All bills raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”  Obamacare provides some twenty new taxes or increases in existing taxes and, therefore, was constitutionally required to originate in the House.  However, the Democrats rammed through the Senate bill in clear violation of the Constitution.  The Supreme Court has only reviewed about three of the many constitutional issues raised by Obamacare.  Therefore, the battle to end Obamacare will go on unless or until, to paraphrase the words of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, (Ky.-R) at CPAC, “Obamacare [is] repealed root and branch.”