31 Jan Economists see little effect on hiring from ACA

Originally posted January 27, 2014 by Carolos Torres on https://ebn.benefitnews.com

The vast majority of U.S. companies said the implementation of the Obama administration’s health care law will have no effect on their businesses or hiring plans, according to results of a poll issued Monday.

About 75% of those surveyed said the Affordable Care Act hasn’t influenced their planning or expectations for 2014, according to data from the National Association for Business Economics. Twenty-one percent of 64 respondents said that the law would have a negative impact on business conditions and 5% said it will be positive.

Most, 85%, also said the law wouldn’t prompt a change in their hiring practices, according to the survey. Some 6% said it would lead to more employment of part-time help and fewer full-time staff, while 8% said it would lead to less hiring of all types of workers.

Participants were also sanguine about changes in Federal Reserve monetary policy, with 70% saying tapering of record stimulus would have no effect on profitability, and the remaining split almost evenly between positive and negative implications for earnings. An overwhelming majority of participants, 94%, said uncertainty regarding what direction policy makers would take prompted no change in capital investment plans.

“A significant majority of survey respondents anticipate little material impact on business conditions from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act or from possible changes in the Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary policy stance,” Jack Kleinhenz, NABE president and chief economist at Kleinhenz and Associates in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, said in a statement. “On net, survey respondents are more optimistic in their economic outlook and, regardless of any changes in monetary policy, expect their firms’ performance in 2014 will be superior to that in 2013.”