The 'weather impact' on the jobs report is usually worst in February

Advertisement

snow storm 1993

AP

The US economy added 295,000 jobs in February, crushing expectations, as the unemployment rate fell to 5.5%, the lowest level since May 2008.

Advertisement

Ahead of the release on Friday morning, one of the things economists were watching closely was the weather impact.

Parts of New England including Boston saw near-record or record snowfalls in February, and unseasonably cold weather swept across the country.

In manufacturing and construction for example, bad weather can bring work to a halt. Even Friday's release was delayed by one minute because workers' movements were limited after snow in Washington, DC on Thursday.

In a note, TD Securities' Gennadiy Goldberg included this chart that shows that over the last ten years, the weather impact on payrolls has been the highest in February.

Advertisement

And on Thursday, we highlighted Pantheon Macro's Ian Shepherdson 's note that payrolls have been revised the most in February over the last five years.

So today's number may well be higher than announced down the road.

Screen Shot 2015 03 06 at 9.12.29 AM

TD Securities