Mini-Jobs Blow

Posted on | October 10, 2012 | 20 Comments

by Smitty

Bluegrass Pundit links the WaPo discussing the unintended consequences of ObamaCare:

Darden Restaurants Inc. declined to give details but said the test is only in four markets across the country. The move entails boosting the number of workers on part-time status, meaning they work less than 30 hours a week.
Under the new health care law, companies with 50 or more workers could be hit with fines if they do not provide basic coverage for full-time workers and their dependents.

Mentioning this story to Mrs. Other Smitty, and she told me to google Gerhard Schröder’s suck-tacular ‘Mini-Jobs’ program in Germany. Turns out this turd notion is a floater in the UK, as well:

German “mini-jobs” are just what it says on the tin: precarious employment for up to €400 (£315) per month, likely to be extended to €450 in 2013. Whether a “mini-job” is an additional or a main job, “mini-jobbers” are exempted from tax and social insurance payments for earnings of up to €400, and employers’ social insurance contributions are considerably below those for equivalent regular jobs.
“Mini-jobbers” thus forgo core benefits of regular employment, such as building up pension claims. Beyond a basic threshold, income from “mini-jobs” also entails the reduction of unemployment benefit for recipients. In March 2012, an initiative, led by the social-democratic governed Länder in Germany’s upper chamber in March 2012, to impose a limit of 12 weekly hours for “mini-jobbers” – and thus effectively a minimum hourly wage – failed.
According to the most recent figures of the German Employment Agency, 7.3 million Germans, or one in every five employees, held “mini-jobs” in September 2010 – an increase of 1.6 million since 2003. The number of workers taking “mini-jobs” as additional side-jobs to make ends meet almost doubled from 1.3 million in 2003 to 2.4 million in 2010. About two thirds of “mini-jobbers” are women, and most “mini-jobs” are to be found in the low-skill segments of service sectors, led by catering, hospitality and construction.

Read the whole sordid thing. And then read Sowell’s Basic Economics. In general, it seems that giving vast control over labor markets to government is akin to giving your male kin to Sandusky, or your money to Corzine–no good can come of it.

The real reason the Left and the media are fighting so hard to drag #OccupyResoluteDesk across the finish line ahead of Romney may not so much be love of Obama personally. Rather, fear of a repeat of the 1980s, when Reagan applied an economic laxative to this country, and the Lefties had to endure so many ears of prosperity for which they could not take credit.

Update: more at The Lonely Conservative

Category: Economics

Comments

20 Responses to “Mini-Jobs Blow”

Bob Belvedere
October 10th, 2012 @ 8:43 am

I don’t blame Darden one bit.
EsausMessage
October 10th, 2012 @ 8:44 am

I misread that headline three times before I got it right. Shows where my mind resides? Yours too, Smitty.
How Obamacare Is Turning Full Time Jobs Into Part Time Jobs | The Lonely Conservative
October 10th, 2012 @ 9:57 am

[…] revenue to the federal government and more misery in an already miserable economy.Update: Linked by The Other McCain – be sure to read it. In Germany these part time jobs are called “mini jobs” and […]
Evi L. Bloggerlady
October 10th, 2012 @ 10:31 am

That headline got me too.
smitty
October 10th, 2012 @ 10:47 am

I did not have sex with that headline.
Adobe_Walls
October 10th, 2012 @ 11:06 am

This will also go a long way to encourage the black economy.
Another failure of Obamacare looms « The Daley Gator
October 10th, 2012 @ 11:10 am

[…] hours. What idiot could not see that coming? Well, the idiots that passed Obamacare could not, Smitty explains Bluegrass Pundit links the WaPo discussing the unintended consequences of ObamaCare: Darden […]
Quartermaster
October 10th, 2012 @ 12:31 pm

Likely story. Please resolve the meaning of “is” prior to the deposition.
richard mcenroe
October 10th, 2012 @ 1:04 pm

Your fingers are too straight to make that work.
richard mcenroe
October 10th, 2012 @ 1:05 pm

my a-hole boss is threatening to cut hours too. Another good reason to kiss off CA…
Wombat_socho
October 10th, 2012 @ 1:33 pm

I honestly don’t know what keeps people there these days if they’re not on the take or obscenely wealthy. But I repeat myself…
Adjoran
October 10th, 2012 @ 1:35 pm

If a business fails to do everything legally possible to maximize its profit (return on shareholders’ equity), the shareholders vote with their feet and sell and put their money elsewhere, depriving the company of capital and market value. Not only does this make capital expansion more difficult, it also affects the ability to borrow and the rate available.

Obama hates businesses, and the feeling is mutual.
Bob Belvedere
October 10th, 2012 @ 1:50 pm

Have you read David Siegel’s e-mail to his employees; it’s Goddamn brilliant.

Key passage: You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.

http://thecampofthesaints.org/2012/10/10/question-of-the-day-2-2/
Adjoran
October 10th, 2012 @ 2:39 pm

Yes, I saw it and it was brilliant. Steve Wynn did something similar. He’s been giving 120% of his salary and bonus to charity for years and resents being called a greedy fat cat.

Someone once said, “Hey, I love the poor but I never got hired by a poor guy.”
Adjoran
October 10th, 2012 @ 2:40 pm

Racist. I denounce you, and myself.
Adjoran
October 10th, 2012 @ 2:41 pm

California reminds me of my first wife’s bumper sticker: “I can’t be overdrawn – I still have checks!”
richard mcenroe
October 10th, 2012 @ 5:45 pm

The water’s cold and the women and gas are expensive.
Wombat_socho
October 10th, 2012 @ 6:04 pm

They’re just as pricey here – but hey, at least I’m not freezing in the dark for nine months of the year any more. F*k Minnesota, seriously.
Bob Belvedere
October 11th, 2012 @ 12:53 am

Have you read David Siegel’s e-mail to his employees; it’s Goddamn brilliant.

Key passage:

*You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.*

http://thecampofthesaints.org/2012/10/10/question-of-the-day-2-2/
Bob Belvedere
October 11th, 2012 @ 8:50 am

Wombat: My comment posted twice because of Disqus hiding it the first time, so I thought it had disappeared in The Ether. And you can see it joined the Choir Invisible for eleven hours.