With the nearing deadline for health care signups approaches, attention has again been drawn to the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Since President Obama's signature legislation was introduced and subsequently passed into law, many detractors have made claims about the types of damage the law would have on the average U.S. worker.
In an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, the CEO of CKE Restaurants (the company that owns Carl's Jr. and Hardee's) said that the law is forcing companies to make changes that are detrimental to the employee. CEO Andy Pudzer said this:
"Obamacare has caused millions of full-time jobs to become part-time."
We had our partners at PolitiFact take a look at this claim to see if it was accurate or not. PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that Pudzer's claim rates HALF TRUE on the Truth-O-Meter. Gillin says there's a correlation, but Pudzer's estimate may be rather high.
"We took a look at the numbers and found that there were about eight million people who work in restaurant franchises like Hardee's and Carl's Jr.," said Gillin. "What we found is that there may be a correlation, but there's nothing to support the claim that it's affecting 'millions' of workers. Independent research conducted by universities and other media outlets have estimated that there might be a few hundred thousand employees that have been moved from full-time to part-time hours, but nowhere near the 'millions' as claimed by Pudzer."
PolitiFact reached out to Pudzer for comment and received some clarification back from the CEO. In a statement to PolitiFact, Pudzer conceded that "there is no definitive data available" to support his claim, but then added that "there is also nothing definitive to the contrary of which I am aware."
Although some estimates say that several hundred thousand workers might have a status change from full-time to part-time that would affect their employer-provided insurance, the number of those affected is not in the "millions," as Pudzer claimed. PolitiFact rates this claim HALF TRUE.
SOURCES: Obamacare changing status for millions of workers?
- PolitiFact ruling
- Andy Puzder, "Shunning ObamaCare" (Wall Street Journal op-ed), Jan. 13, 2015
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, "Little Evidence of the ACA Increasing Part-Time Work So Far," September 2014
- Center for Economic and Policy Research, "The Affordable Care Act: A Family-Friendly Policy," September 2014
- Fivethirtyeight.com, "Yes, Some Companies Are Cutting Hours In Response To ‘Obamacare,' " Jan. 13, 2015
- Center for Economic and Policy Research, "Unemployment Rate Edges Down to 5.6 Percent, but Wages Stagnate," Jan. 9, 2015
- Center for Economic and Policy Research, "The Numbers Are In: Obamacare Increased Percentage of People Working 26-29 Hours a Week," Aug. 26, 2013
- Investor's Business Daily, "ObamaCare Employer Mandate: A List Of Cuts To Work Hours, Jobs," Sept. 5, 2014
- Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Obamacare not forcing workers into part-time employment, analyses find," Sept. 16, 2014
- Huffington Post, "No, Obamacare Isn't Turning America Into A Part-Time Economy," March 7, 2014
- Interview with Ben Casselman, chief economics writer at fivethirtyeight.com, Jan. 14, 2014
- Email interview with Dean Baker, economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Jan. 14, 2015
- Email interview with Tara Sinclair, economist with George Washington University, Jan. 15, 2015
- Email interview with Gary Burtless, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, Jan. 14, 2015
- Email interview with Robert Kaestner, economist at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Jan. 14, 2015
- Email interview with Andy Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, Jan. 19, 2015