Administration’s War on Work Reflected in Jobs Numbers
The administration and its allies are currently engaged in a regulatory onslaught on employers that can only be described as a war on work. Today’s weak job numbers demonstrate that the war is causing employers to stop hiring. Not only did the economy create just 38,000 jobs last month, the labor force itself fell back with record numbers not even looking for work (which is how the Bureau of Labor Statistics is able to claim that unemployment fell).
The administration and its allies’ war on work takes many forms:
- The Obamacare mandate that causes firms to cut hours
- The National Labor Relations Board’s attacks on contracting out and franchises under its “joint employer” cases
- The Department of Labor’s initiative to force independent contractors into employment contracts (which was done by blog post)
- The Department’s restrictive new overtime rules, which will hit startups and nonprofits particularly hard
- The NLRB’s “ambush election” rule that makes companies more vulnerable to union organizing
- Minimum wage increases across the country
The net effect of each of these initiatives is to cause employers to pull back on hiring. Giving someone a job now carries with it massive regulatory risk. It is no wonder that employers aren’t able to offer jobs at terms potential workers are willing to take.
If we want more people offering jobs, and more people looking for them, the administration and its allies must end their war on work.