Obama 2.0: What Re-election Could Mean for Job Growth

This week, President Obama was re-elected to office. He will serve again as a second-term president.

But many are unsatisfied with his job creation policies from his first term, despite the fact that he was able to lower the unemployment rates. His opponents and critics say hasn’t done enough to help small businesses expand to create jobs, writes The Associated Press.

And as you may know, small business success is intrinsically tied to job growth, in many ways. After all, if small businesses aren’t hiring, then we have a serious problem with job growth.

Some are saying that President Obama’s win means more of the same, writes Fox News. But is that correct?

Let’s break down Obama’s policies a bit and see how they affect employment.

Many of President Obama’s small business initiatives come from tax policy. Taxation often goes hand-in-hand with employment. While higher taxes could mean more money for government spending to invest directly in job creation, raising taxes could also cause small businesses to tighten their belts.

For one, raising personal income tax rates, which is something that President Obama has put on the table, could have repercussions in the personal income tax returns of small business owners, many of whom are sole proprietorships.

Of course, there’s also the infamous Obamacare. Obamacare will make it mandatory for businesses employing over 50 people to provide affordable health care to employees. But small businesses are still in the dark on what the costs of this could be.

And if businesses employing over 50 would be required to spend more, then they just might try to stay under the 50 employee mark.

Time will tell how Obama’s re-election will affect small businesses and employment.

Related Resources:

• Philadelphia Employment Lawyers (FindLaw)
• Employment Discrimination and Problem Interview Questions (FindLaw’s Philadelphia Employment Law Blog)
• Employment Issues and the 2012 Election (FindLaw’s Philadelphia Employment Law Blog)