White House: ObamaCare has not stifled job growth

{mosads}Workers in the restaurant industry have also seen their average weekly hours increase since ObamaCare became law, said David Vandivier, the chief of staff to the Council of Economic Advisers.

Restaurant owners say they are cutting workers’ hours to avoid the mandate to provide health benefits to full-time employees. But the White House said the numbers don’t support that claim.

“These observations strongly suggest that the Affordable Care Act has not constrained growth in hiring or work hours,” Vandivier wrote.

Restaurants’ job growth since 2010 has even outpaced their sales growth, according to the White House.

The White House also noted on its blog Monday that healthcare spending is growing at near-record lows — a slowdown that policy experts, including Medicare’s trustees, have attributed to the healthcare law.

“So what is the ACA doing? It’s slowing the growth rate of health care costs for consumers, creating new incentives for providers to raise the quality of care, and adding new transparency and accountability in the insurance marketplace — all steps that help the economy,” Vandivier said.