Our objective, unbiased, not-at-all liberal media asked every expert they could get their hands on Friday if the disastrous December jobs report could be blamed on Republicans. In other words, can we blame the sequester or government shutdown? The consensus is no. But one question our media doesn’t want to ask is if ObamaCare has become a drag on job creation.
Conspicuously missing from today’s media coverage is the fact that thousands of jobs in the field of health care were slashed last month:
Healthcare, which had seen a rise in November, lost 6,000 jobs in December. Largest losses occurred in ambulatory healthcare services (-4,100) and home healthcare services (-3,700). Only outpatient care centers and nursing and residential care facilities had gains (3,600 and 500, respectively).
Over the course of the year, healthcare averaged 17,000 job gains per month, down from a monthly average of 27,000 in 2012.
It isn’t just the loss of health care jobs that would have a legitimate media wondering if ObamaCare was hurting job creation. Millions lost their health insurance. Millions were forced into ObamaCare plans that are much more expensive than what they were previously paying. Business is bracing itself for the punishing employer mandate that goes into effect in less than a year.
All this worry, insecurity, lost income, and fear of the unknown could have something to do with December’s collapse in hiring. Consumer spending has a lot to do with economic growth and therefore job creation, so isn’t it possible that all those millions of Americans forced to spend more on their ObamaCare insurance premiums could have hurt job growth?
I stress could. But it is a fair question. And yet, the media won’t even float the question for fear it will hurt Obama and ObamaCare.
But as we have seen throughout the Obama Administration, any questions about ObamaCare hurting job creation is always met with swift blowback from the very same media that never stops speculating that blunting the size and scope of the federal government (sequester, shutdown) will hurt job creation.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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