Poor Weather Reduced Employment by About 90,000 in January
The BLS reported 143 thousand non-farm jobs were added in January. During the Winter months, I like to look at the weather impact on the report.The BLS reported 573 thousand people were employed in non-agriculture industries, with a job, but not at work due to bad weather. The average for January over the previous 10 years was 304 thousand (median 258 thousand), so more people than normal were impacted by bad weather. The BLS also reported 1.175 million people that are usually full-time employees were working part time in January due to bad weather. The average for January over the previous 10 years was 945 thousand (the median was 670 thousand). This series suggests weather negatively impacted employment more than usual. The San Francisco Fed estimates Weather-Adjusted Change in Total Nonfarm Employment (monthly change, seasonally adjusted). They use local area weather to estimate the impact on employment. For January, the San Francisco Fed estimated that weather reduced employment by 85 to 90 thousand jobs. It appears weather adjusted job gains were around 230 thousand in January (seasonally adjusted)
The BLS also reported 1.175 million people that are usually full-time employees were working part time in January due to bad weather. The average for January over the previous 10 years was 945 thousand (the median was 670 thousand). This series suggests weather negatively impacted employment more than usual.
The San Francisco Fed estimates Weather-Adjusted Change in Total Nonfarm Employment (monthly change, seasonally adjusted). They use local area weather to estimate the impact on employment. For January, the San Francisco Fed estimated that weather reduced employment by 85 to 90 thousand jobs.
It appears weather adjusted job gains were around 230 thousand in January (seasonally adjusted)