Friday’s jobs report showed 92,000 positions were lost in February, sending the stock market falling. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, and the labor force participation rate fell to 62.0%.
However, February job loss is due to several factors that don’t reflect the strength of the underlying small-business economy. Mainly, the worst winter storm since 1996 paralyzed the Northeast, trapping people in their homes, shutting down job sites, and closing retail doors. The storm dropped two feet of snow across New England, resulting in power outages affecting 600,000 people and a state of emergency throughout the region.
Generally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights such large external events affecting job creation in a special section of the jobs report. But not this time. Any analysis of the February jobs report needs to include this angle.