On Monday’s Your World, Elizabeth MacDonald and Stuart Varney pushed the myth that the Affordable Care Act is to blame for people planning to spend less this holiday season. When asked if there was a link between the two, MacDonald said, “Yeah, it appears that way.” In reality, there is no apparent connection.
The two suggested that ObamaCare is the cause of people working lower-paying part-time jobs.
Varney said, “So the connection is there’s far more part-time work, that wage levels, actual spending power not going up, in fact is going down, and that’s the connection between Obamacare, rising costs, and less spending this holiday season.”
“That’s right,” MacDonald said. “Part-time jobs pay less. There are now 27 million part-time jobs out there in the U.S. labor force. That’s about a fifth of the total, and that’s above historical norms. …Two thirds of the net job creation so far this year, Stuart, has been part time jobs versus full time jobs.” Citing the Federal Reserve Beige Book, she said, “Companies reporting back to the Federal Reserve that there is concern on the part of businesses over health reform. You hear it coming out of Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, Cleveland, and Richmond.”
Varney concluded, “Thanks Liz, there is a connection, you made it.”
But as Media Matters pointed out, the holiday-spending survey made no such connection.
The survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, makes zero mentions of the ACA or health reform and trends for most surveyed indicators—from holiday spending and job security to personal savings and financial security—are largely flat from year-to-year.
Furthermore, MacDonald’s claim that the Federal Reserve Beige Book indicates a sense of unease in the business community regarding the ACA is a significant exaggeration. The Fed’s most-recent official statement recognizes “concern about future cost increases attributable to the Affordable Care Act and other types of federal regulation,” but lists no examples of those costs or any other negative consequences currently assigned to the law.
Media Matters also noted, "The "Obamacare Part-Time Jobs Myth" has also been easily dispelled by actual economists, including some of the same outlets that initially pushed the claims."
Video below from the 12/16/13 Your World, via Media Matters.