Tuesday, April 2, 2013

"Obamacare Cost Me Work"

An EPJ reader emails:

I work in television production as a freelance worker. While freelance, I do work for one major media company that uses me quite a lot and accounts for probably 85% of my work. I regularly work 3-4 days per week with them and often more depending on the time of year.

Today we were told that freelancers would soon have to work under 30 hours per week. Since shifts are 8 hours, this means nobody will be able to work here as a freelancer for more than 3 days per week (24 hours total).

I've calculated that the maximum I can make in a year with them is now about 30% less than I have made with this company in each of the past 2 years.

As a regular EPJ reader, this news did not surprise me and I was prepared for it with the knowledge of how Obamacare is distorting the market , particularly for part-timers and freelancers like myself.

Most of my fellow freelancers however are in shock over the announcement, and I've yet to hear anyone relate it to Obamacare.

2 comments:

  1. I also work in television production. A lot of these people are big Obama supporters and don't have a clue. Actual production in LA has been in decline because of tax incentives and lower wage rates in other states for awhile. Fortunately for me, LA is still a big hub of post production. Nonetheless, in my own work experience I have seen companies learn to get by with about 1/3 less staff. In another example, one company will limit the number of "on staff" personnel and consider the remainder free-lance. I'm betting the number of 49 employee companies will be growing in the future. Whatever configuration a company chooses it will be to work around Obamacare and it's penalties.

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  2. Luck man. For many, it will cost them their lives...

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