Employer Mandate Projected to Have Little Impact on U.S. Labor Force
<p>Will the Affordable Care Act’s so-called employer mandate lead to mass layoffs or cutbacks in workers’ hours? The answer is no, according to a new Commonwealth Fund analysis conducted by New York University’s Sherry Glied.</p><p>Beginning this January, firms with 100 or more full-time employees will be required to offer affordable health insurance coverage or face possible penalties. Firms with 50 to 99 employees have until January 2016 to comply.</p>
<p>The new study finds that less than 0.3 percent of the workforce might see reductions in employment or hours in the short run, as some firms seek to avoid the coverage mandate by keeping the number of full-time or full-time-equivalent workers they employ below the threshold level.</p>
<p>Most employers that will be subject to the mandate already comply with it. Among those employers that don’t, most are likely to find compliance to be less expensive than avoidance, Glied says.</p>