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The Big Lies › 2014 › File PF-0035
Retracted

WaPo Headline Turned CBO's Labor Estimate Into '2 Million Fewer Jobs'

Coverage of a Congressional Budget Office report said the Affordable Care Act would mean roughly 2 million fewer jobs, a framing quickly echoed by Republican critics as Obamacare 'killing' jobs.

First reported Feb 4, 2014 · The Washington Post, Politico
Who it helped: Republicans

The 'jobs lost' framing supported Republican attacks on the Affordable Care Act.

What was reported

Coverage of a Congressional Budget Office report said the Affordable Care Act would mean roughly 2 million fewer jobs, a framing quickly echoed by Republican critics as Obamacare 'killing' jobs.

What actually happened

The CBO had projected a drop in hours worked equal to about 2 to 2.5 million full-time-equivalent workers, driven mainly by people choosing to work less because of subsidies, not by employers cutting positions. The Washington Post revised its headline from 'fewer jobs' to 'fewer workers' and added a correction note, and many other outlets reworded headlines within a day. PolitiFact later rated a GOP ad built on the jobs framing Mostly False.

The proof

The CBO report itself attributed the decline to workers' own labor-supply choices; the Post's own media critic documented its headline revision.

The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:

WaPo Headline Turned CBO's Labor Estimate Into '2 Million Fewer Jobs' — Retracted. The CBO report itself attributed the decline to workers' own labor-supply choices; the Post's own media critic documented its headline revision. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/wapo-cbo-obamacare-2-million-jobs-headline/

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