Counting the Cost of Wildfires on U.S. Economic Growth

(Bloomberg) -- Weekly statistics provide early clues on the extent of the disruption wildfires on the U.S. West Coast are causing on economic activity, according to Bloomberg Economics: In California, reported data could have been affected after Aug. 14, and in Oregon and Washington after Sept. 7. Jobless claims in California started to increase in the week ended Aug. 22 and advance state claims climbed in Oregon and in Washington in the week ended Sept. 19. BE estimates the impact from the blazes could shave an annualized 0.7 percentage point from gross-domestic-product growth in the third quarter.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.