On its website the law firm Littler Mendelson proclaims, \u201cWith over 55 offices in major metropolitan areas nationwide, more than\u00a0950 Littler attorneys provide the firm\u2019s clients with representation and daily advice concerning dozens of different areas of labor and employment law.\u201d\u00a0 Its bread and butter is helping clients cope with government rules, so we can be sure it is not ideologically hostile to new regulations. \u00a0Which makes its survey of how small businesses are preparing for ObamaCare all the more credible and revealing.<\/p>\n
Small Business Speaks<\/b><\/p>\n
The firm commissioned a Gallup poll of 603 small business owners (revenue under $20 million) to discover how they viewed ObamaCare and were planning for the new law.\u00a0 Bottom line: the firms are scared stiff and have already cut back on hiring and business expansion.\u00a0 A Littler Mendelson partner claimed to be \u201cstartled\u201d by the results, but I am not at all surprised. For the past few years I have been going on about how ObamaCare and other new regulations would discourage hiring.\u00a0 For example, last July I showed why the law \u201cmakes it far more costly and complex<\/span> for all small businesses to hire workers.\u00a0 Figuring out healthcare rules has become as daunting as calculating your taxes, maybe more so.\u201d\u00a0 (See \u201cThe Other Keynesian Paradigm,\u201d July 9, 2012.)<\/p>\n ObamaCare not only raises the cost of labor but increases the legal risks of hiring.\u00a0 Make one mistake in interpreting the thousands of pages of legalese and your friendly IRS agent could hit you with a huge fine. The recent IRS scandal, showing the agency to be corrupt and incompetent, increases the perceived risk of hiring.\u00a0 Here are key findings of the Littler Mendelson survey, as reported by CNBC:<\/p>\n Weak Hiring to Make for a Tepid Taper<\/b><\/p>\n With ObamaCare deadlines fast approaching, media attention will increase, and its negative impact on hiring will likely get worse.\u00a0 But as the Littler survey shows, it is already having a big impact, which is reflected in hiring data.\u00a0 Taking a cue from Larry Kudlow, here is the 3-month moving average of payroll employment growth over the past half year, starting with the three months ending December 2012:<\/p>\n Do you see any momentum there?\u00a0 Neither do I.\u00a0 Even though the Fed\u2019s moves hinge on employment trends, Wall Street economists are, with a few honorable exceptions, pretty much ignoring Obamacare\u2019s impact on hiring. \u00a0But the Littler survey indicates small business hiring will remain weak. Meanwhile, large corporations with global exposure will be unnerved by China’s credit crunch, financial volatility and political unrest in other emerging markets, ongoing recession\/stagnation in Europe, and the plunging Japanese Yen.\u00a0 All of which\u00a0 suggests we will get a very tepid taper, along with continued high readings of O-Poverty and O-Ineqauality.<\/p>\n Copyright 2013 Thomas Doerflinger.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On its website the law firm Littler Mendelson proclaims, \u201cWith over 55 offices in major metropolitan areas nationwide, more than\u00a0950 Littler attorneys provide the firm\u2019s clients with representation and daily advice concerning dozens of different areas of labor and employment … Continue reading \n
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