WASHINGTON — Blame it on the blizzard. That’s what the White House will do if the February jobs report is as ugly as expected. It may have a point.
With unemployment just below 10 percent, the White House is continuing to defend last year’s economic stimulus and press lawmakers for new job-creating initiatives. Confusion created by the weather’s impact on the labor market could complicate its case.
Some analysts believe the economy shed as many as 75,000 jobs as unusually violent winter storms walloped the East Coast last month. Buried under nearly 3 feet of snow, many businesses may have delayed hiring, stunting payroll growth.
The blizzard’s blow is expected to be temporary, followed by a rebound in March. But any glum news in the February report, set for release Friday, comes at a challenging time for the administration.
Larry Summers, who heads President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, gave a rare warning this week about the coming data, saying the numbers are likely to be distorted by the storms.
“It’s going to be very important … to look past whatever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trends,” Summers said in an interview on CNBC. Those trends, he said, will show growth in jobs “soon.”
Summers said he doesn’t know what Friday’s data will show, but his comments suggest the White House is concerned that the figures could be misinterpreted. Dow Jones Newswires
