How this brutal winter screwed up the labor market, in one illuminating chart

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
If this winter has felt particularly long, cold, snowy, and miserable, that's because it actually has been. Last month, we noted how extreme weather kept an unusually high number of workers at home this season, per Bureau of Labor statistics data. But at the time, the data only ran through January, providing an incomplete comparison to other years. Well, on Friday the BLS released its February jobs report, and it showed that full-time employees again missed many workdays for weather-related reasons.
The following chart shows workdays missed, in thousands, from November through February of a given year:
By that metric, this winter has been the fourth-worst in the past three decades. But unlike the years with even more missed workdays, the U.S. didn't get slammed by a singular, devastating blizzard this year. In other words, the inclement weather has been more persistent — a string of mini-storms as opposed to one massive disruption.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
And all that nasty weather has directly hindered the economic recovery. Despite strong job growth in February, the unemployment rate ticked up from 6.6 percent to 6.7 percent last month as more than 600,000 full-time employees missed work due to the weather.
At least spring is finally almost here.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
-
Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 1 October 2023
The Week’s daily digest of the news agenda, published at 8am
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: October 1, 2023
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku medium: October 1, 2023
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Exodus begins from Burning Man after desert mud trapped tens of thousands
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
'Margaritaville' singer Jimmy Buffett dies at 76
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
American Airlines suing website that offers tickets via price loopholes
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Federal agencies investigating near miss between Southwest jet and private plane
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies at 70
Speed Read
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
Trader Joe's recalls 4 products in a week amid reports of rocks and insects inside food
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Emmys to be postponed for first time since after 9/11 due to strikes
Speed Read
By Brendan Morrow Published