Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) – Obamacare will reduce the total number of hours Americans work by the equivalent of 2 million full-time jobs in 2017, the Congressional Budget Office said, sparking renewed Republican criticism of the law and a fresh defense from the White House.

The total number of hours worked will fall about 1.5 percent to 2 percent from 2017 to 2024 as a result of the health-care overhaul, the CBO said today in a report. The reduction, about twice the agency's estimates in 2010, is due "almost entirely" to low-wage employees who may choose to give up extra hours of work to avoid losing subsidies or tax advantages under the law, the report said.

Republicans said their warnings that the health law would discourage employment are proving correct. The report "is further evidence the president's health-care law is destroying full-time jobs," U.S. Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said in a statement.