The reason is that employers are reluctant to hire new employees. Mandated benefits are 85 percent of the typical employee's salary. Labor costs, because of these mandates, are 50 percent higher than in the United States. Japan and other European economies are suffering from this same regulatory disease. Japan's economic growth rate has been anemic.
Unemployment is up dramatically in Europe and Japan.
International competition demands a climate of lower taxes and regulation to remain productive. The productive economy is an economy with minimal regulation. The JEC has issued many reports highlighting the direct and indirect cost of big government. The stagnation of family incomes under Clinton are the direct result of his Administration's failure to curb the size and scope of the Federal government. If we are concerned with the inadequate rate of economic growth, we must recognize that the single greatest impediment to economic growth is the size and scope of the Federal government.