| A
relentless rise in the cost of employee health insurance has
become a significant factor in the employment slump, as the
labor market adds only a trickle of new jobs each month
despite nearly three years of uninterrupted economic growth.
Government data, industry
surveys and interviews with employers big and small indicate
that many businesses remain reluctant to hire full-time
employees because health insurance, which now costs the
nation's employers an average of about $3,000 a year for
each worker, has become one of the fastest-growing costs for
companies. Health premiums are sapping corporate balance
sheets even more than the rising cost of energy.
In the second quarter, the
cost of health benefits rose at a 12-month rate of 8.1
percent - more than three times the inflation rate and the
rate of increases in wages and salaries. |
