Express Employment Professionals Survey of Business Reveals Affordable Care Act's Impact on Job Creation
Oklahoma City (PRWEB) February 19, 2014 -- As the economic effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continue to be debated, Express Employment Professionals, the nation’s largest privately held staffing firm, released the results of a survey of business owners, hiring managers, and human resource professionals on the ACA and its impact on hiring decisions.
Sixty percent of respondents believe the ACA will lead to less job creation, while 53 percent said it would negatively affect their own businesses.
When asked about how the ACA’s mandates will affect their hiring decisions, the majority of businesses with fewer than 50 employees said they would “try to remain under 50 full-time employees.” Seventy percent of survey respondents whose companies have 45-49 employees said they would try to remain under 50 employees. The ACA mandates that businesses with 50 or more full-time employees, defined as those working 30 hours or more a week, provide health care coverage to their full-time workers.
The vast majority, 67 percent, of companies with more than 50 employees, however, do not plan to reduce their number of employees. And only 10 percent of all respondents said they would reduce the hours of their full-time employees to less than 30 hours a week; 18 percent were unsure.
“Because of the ACA, many small businesses have an incentive to stay small,” said Bob Funk, CEO of Express, and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. “That’s the most troubling take away from this survey. The ACA creates a disincentive for businesses to expand beyond 50 full-time employees.
“The impact of this law goes far beyond the issue of health care, and this survey—along with the recent Congressional Budget Office report—confirms the impact. Health care reform is reforming the job market—in ways that are not encouraging for job creation.”
As part of the America Employed campaign, the survey was conducted in December 2013, and results were based on responses from 1,100 business owners, hiring managers, and human resource professionals throughout the U.S. America Employed is a series of releases that explore the state of employment and focuses on who gets hired and why.
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About Robert A. “Bob” Funk
Robert A. “Bob” Funk is chairman, chief executive officer and president of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the international staffing company has 675 franchises in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. Under his leadership, Express has put more than five million people to work worldwide. Funk served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and was also the Chairman of the Conference of Chairmen of the Federal Reserve.
About Express Employment Professionals
Express Employment Professionals puts people to work. It generated more than $2.5 billion in temporary sales and employed nearly 400,000 people in 2013, and ranks as the largest privately held staffing company in the United States. Its long-term goal is to put a million people to work annually.
Sherry Kast, Express Employment Professionals, http://www.expresspros.com/, +1 (405) 717-5966, [email protected]
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