While the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t quantify the impact of major weather events on the monthly employment data, it is possible to tease out where some of those impacts may have occurred. Certain industries do tend to be associated with outdoor activity that could be affected, where supply chains may be disrupted, and where temporary workers may be needed to aid recovery efforts.
An effective calculation is to add up construction, retail, transportation and warehousing, social assistance, and administration less temporary help. The resulting total of weather sensitive industries as a share of total employment then gives an idea of what the storm impact was. In October, these may reduced nonfarm payrolls by about 25 percent.
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