An unusually warm winter across the United States compared to normal brought more than just lower home heating costs in January. The warmer weather also led to the creation of more jobs in the U.S. than economists had expected.
Employers added 225,000 jobs in January, according to the U.S. Labor Department, a total well above the 158,000 that Wall Street analysts previously estimated for the month. The average monthly gain in 2019 was 175,000.
The weather played a key role, with significant job increases in industries dependent upon warmer-than-average weather. The construction industry saw the largest jump, with 44,000 jobs in January; construction added an average of 12,000 jobs per month in 2019.
“Weather very well may have been a factor in lifting construction,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief economist Americas at Natixis in a CNBC.com story.
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A construction worker is suspended above SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. The estimated $5 billion project is on schedule to open in July as the most expensive stadium in NFL history. (AP Photo/Greg Beacham) |
A total of 36,000 jobs were added in leisure and hospitality, another industry with a connection to the weather, CNBC noted. There have been 288,000 jobs added in leisure and hospitality over the last six months.
“For most of the country, there really has not been much of a winter,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dave Samuhel. “In fact, we had one of the warmest Januarys in history across the country.”
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However, in their 2020 U.S. spring forecast, AccuWeather meteorologists are calling for increasingly colder winter weather to occur across much of the U.S. through February and possibly continuing even beyond the official beginning of spring on March 21.
Milder spring weather will be slow to arrive in the Northeast, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley this year, as the chance of snow lingers into the middle of spring. Meanwhile, the Southeast will brace for a wet and stormy couple of months, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
Spring will be split in the West as some areas will experience a prolonged winter season and others may skip right to summerlike conditions.
“February and early March can still deliver plenty of cold and snow to the U.S.,” Samuhel said.
For more seasonal updates, see the exclusive AccuWeather 90-day forecast available at AccuWeather.com (search your city to view the monthly outlook); you can also keep apprised of your forecast on the free AccuWeather app.
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