[Hoot Gibson]

Obama has shown an uncanny skill at turning full time workers into part-time workers. Democratic Senator Max Baucus may not be a smart man, but even he was smart enough to recognize Obamacare as an economic trainwreck barreling out of control.

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Part-Time America

The U.S. labor market may be gaining a little more steam, judging by Friday's June jobs report. Imagine how much better it might do if ObamaCare weren't encouraging employers to hire so many part-time workers.

The Labor Department's survey of businesses found 195,000 net new hires in June, 202,000 in the private economy. Payrolls for April and May were also revised upward by a total of 70,000, which means the average for the last three months is about 200,000. That's up from the 182,000 monthly average over the last year.

One positive development is that the number of "long-time" unemployed, those out of work for six months or more, fell again and is down by one million workers over the past year. The dismally low labor participation rate ticked up to 63.5% from 63.4% in May as 177,000 more Americans entered the workforce, though the rate is still below the 63.8% from last June. Average hourly wages climbed a welcome 10 cents and for the first time hit $24.

The disappointments include a big jump of 247,000 in the number of "discouraged workers," those who have stopped looking for a job. This could be a one-month anomaly given the other increases, but it bears watching.

Also disappointing is the big jump in the number of Americans who want to work full time but could only find part-time work. That number leapt to 8.23 million, a 322,000 one-month increase. Total part-time employment rose by 432,000, more than double the total number of net new jobs.

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