21% of New York manufacturing companies hiring fewer workers because of Obamacare

An August survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds 20.9% of manufacturing companies in New York report hiring fewer workers in response to Obamacare. From Business Insider:

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According to a new survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 20.9% of manufacturing firms in the state said they were employing fewer workers because of the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare law known as Obamacare, while 16.8% of respondents in the service sector said the same.

As the New York Fed noted, this still leaves a vast majority of businesses unaffected, but even a one-in-five change is significant.

Some firms in the survey, 4.7% of manufacturing firms and less than 1% of service sector firms, said they were hiring more employees in response to the ACA, so at least a handful of businesses are seeing an upside. Meanwhile, 12.9% of manufacturing firms surveyed and 15% in the service sector said the were increasing the proportion of part-time workers because of the ACA.

Additionally, 32.1% of manufacturing firms and 21% of service firms said the prices they charge consumers has gone up in response to the ACA. Here’s the chart from the Supplemental Survey:

ACA impact NY firms

The firms in the NY Fed’s supplemental survey expect health costs to go up about 10% in 2017 though not all of that increase was attributed to Obamacare. About 55% of respondents said they were either changing providers in 2017 or making changes to their health plans in response to the ACA. Most changes involved higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. From the Supplemental Survey report:

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The most widely reported adjustments involved higher deductibles, increased co-pays, and higher out-of-pocket maximums. The vast majority of firms in both surveys indicated that they would be paying a higher total premium, and somewhat more than half of respondents in both the manufacturing and service sector surveys said they were raising their employees’ share of contribution to the premium.

Business Insider points out that some previous studies have suggested Obamacare did not have a negative impact on the labor market.

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