John Kline needs to be more careful

Today, the Congressional Budget Office released its annual Budget and Economic Outlook. There is much good news contained in this report.

John Kline, of course, focuses only on the impact of Obamacare on the economy. Today he released a statement that reads: 

"Minnesota Congressman John Kline, Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement after a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report revealed the President’s health care law could lead to a loss of 2.5 million full-time jobs by 2024:

“Last year Secretary Sebelius dismissed concerns about job losses under ObamaCare as ‘speculation,’” said Kline. “Today’s report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is further evidence the President’s health care law is destroying full-time jobs. This fatally-flawed health care scheme is wreaking havoc on working families nationwide, forcing premium increases, policy cancellations, and job losses. President Obama has a responsibility to stop this train wreck before it inflicts more harm on the Minnesotans I represent.”

http://kline.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=368774

"The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses’ demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked relative to what would have occurred otherwise rather than as an increase in unemployment (that is, more workers seeking but not finding jobs) or underemployment (such as part-time workers who would prefer to work more hours per week)." Id.

The people leaving the labor force will be low wage workers, who will benefit more from the ACA subsidies for health care, and older people. Id. Fully half of the decline in labor force participation is the result of baby boomers moving into retirement. CBO report at p38.