While the White House is celebrating the third anniversary of their health care law, the jobs of millions of American workers across the country are at risk because of ObamaCare.  According to a state-by-state breakdown of data from a Hudson Institute study, ObamaCare’s employer mandate jeopardizes the jobs of up to 3.2 million full-time employees in the franchise industry.  The data, released today by the International Franchise Association (IFA), reveals that the potential for job loss is especially high in the hospitality, restaurant and leisure industries – the same industries where many secure entry-level jobs and learn skills that allow them to move to higher-skilled work.  With over one-third of franchise employees in every state at risk, over 300,000 in California, almost 200,000 jobs in Florida and over 110,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, no one is safe from the pain of job loss under ObamaCare.

Highlights from testimony summarizing the study’s findings:

• This [employer mandate] penalty raises significantly the cost of employing full-time workers, especially low- skill workers, because the penalty is a higher proportion of their compensation than for high-skill workers, and employers cannot take the penalty out of employee compensation packages.
• Industries that have traditionally offered the greatest opportunities to entry-level workers – leisure and hospitality, restaurant – will be particularly hard-hit by the new law.  The franchise industry has offered an entry point to low-skill workers, who have some of the highest unemployment rates in America.
  
• In addition to hiring more part-time workers, firms will have an added incentive to become more automated, or machinery-intensive and  employ fewer workers.