WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Several U.S. employers said demand, not tax breaks, dictates hiring, a potential snub to President Barack Obama's proposed $447 billion jobs bill.
"You still need to have the business need to hire. Business demand is what drives hiring," said e-commerce businessman Jeffrey Braerman, who owns Nutsonline, a seller of nuts and dried fruit based in Cranford, N.J., The New York Times reported Saturday.
Roger Tung, chief executive officer of Concert Pharmaceuticals, said his company could benefit from the corporate payroll tax deduction to the tune of $150,000 a year. However, that was less than the cost of hiring one worker at his biotechnology company that now employs 45 workers in Lexington, Mass.
Raising money to hire takes investor interest, Tung said.
At a very different company, Chesapeake Energy, there are 800 positions open, but these openings had nothing to do with Obama's proposal and the company said it was already earning tax credits for hiring long-term unemployed workers, one of the benefits the president has offered in the new bill.
Tax credit "does not drive our hiring," Chesapeake's vice president for strategic affairs and public relations, Michael Kehs, said.
Healthcare companies are concerned the proposals could even slow hiring in one job sector that has grown throughout the recession, while other industries suffered.
The plan includes cuts in federal Medicare reimbursements, which hospitals have said would slow down hiring.
"Approximately 65 percent of the people we care for are insured through Medicare or Medicaid, and any further cuts in reimbursements from those programs will severely impact our ability to hire and retain workers," said Lloyd Dean, chief executive officer of Catholic Healthcare West, which employs 55,000 workers in California, Arizona and Nevada, the Times said.
