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Robert Winner

TEDCRED 50+

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What is a work week

Traditionally full time employment has always been a 40 hour work week and anything else was considered part time and sans benefits. Businesses make hiring decisions based on this model which directly impact the financial health of the organization.

In the wake of Obamacare, this model is being challenged by the federal government. The health care benefit law has lowered the hours of work to be eligable to a 30 hour week. Thus full time employment by federal decree is 30 hours.

The potential impact is giantic. Businesses reduced the work week to less than 40 hours to survive and now will probally look at further reductions in hours. This applies to companies with more than 50 employees. Some companies have reduced the number of employees to less than 50.

The cost for a single employee is $4,664 for a family policy $11,329 while the penalty for non-compliance is $2,000. It is cheaper to not comply.

We currently have 25 million unemployed how will this impact those numbers. How will this impact the average earning wage of the US worker. Will the number on welfare go up? How about food stamps? The cost of services ad products?

Corporate greed ... survival ... government intrusion into private commerce causing a pre-determined negative impact .... more jobs going overseas ....

How do you see this?

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    edward long 100+

    • +1
    Feb 21 2013: Reduce the unemployment numbers by re-defining employment. With, say, 240 manhours-per week of work to do, rather than sharing that workload among 6 employees working 40 Hrs (6 X 40=240 hrs), we can hire 2 more employees and work everyone 30 Hrs (8 X 30=240 hrs). Unemployment is reduced, Employment is increased, and new jobs are created! Win! Win! Win! But that's not all. Middle-class income goes down significantly which aligns perfectly with the transition to Socialism. Let's repeal the two-term limit and keep Barack Hussein Obama at the helm until 2020!
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      Jedrek Stepien 10+

      • 0
      Feb 21 2013: Your vision is beautiful but do not forget that each emplyee means higher fixed costs.
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        edward long 100+

        • 0
        Feb 21 2013: Thank you sir. I assumed the "substantial savings" made possible by Obamacare would offset the cost of added employees. Perhaps not.
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      Krisztián Pintér 200+

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      TED Translator
      Feb 21 2013: it actually underlines how stupid this measure is. it is easy to reduce unemployment by changing nothing at all, or even making it worse. it is the characteristic of an ill constructed measure.

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