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Hollywood strikes cost the US economy 17,000 jobs in August

Alexandra Canal
·Senior Reporter
Updated ·2-min read

The US labor market continued to cool in August as the ongoing double strike in Hollywood registered a hit to the jobs report for the first time last month.

According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday morning, employment in motion picture and sound recording industries decreased by 17,000, "reflecting strike activity."

The writers' strike is about to enter its fifth month while the actors' strike heads for month two on the picket lines.

There's currently no end in sight for the dual work stoppage after studio negotiations hit a stalemate last week. At that time, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) slammed the studios' counterproposal, lamenting it didn't come close to satisfying writers' demands. Talks have not resumed since.

FILE - Striking writers and actors picket outside Paramount studios in Los Angeles on Friday, July 14, 2023. As worker actions continue from Hollywood to Detroit, and new labor unions crop up at firms like Starbucks and Amazon, the White House on Monday was highlighting its effort to bolster worker organizing throughout the U.S. The ongoing double strike added to job losses of 17,000 for the month of August. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
Striking writers and actors picket outside Paramount studios in Los Angeles on Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Industry watchers say that the "double whammy" work stoppage has already had serious economic implications. According to estimates from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., the 2007-2008 strike cost the Los Angeles County economy a whopping $2.5 billion. That likely will double this time around.

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Kevin Klowden, chief global strategist at the Milken Institute, estimated the current strikes will soon cost the national economy $5 billion-plus, upwardly revising his previous estimate of $4 billion.

"The main thing we're really factoring into it is the lost wages," Klowden told Yahoo Finance Live in an interview this week. Klowden noted California will be impacted, but also other popular filming locations like New York, Atlanta, Albuquerque, and Pittsburgh.

Overall, the US economy added 187,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked higher to 3.8%, up from 3.5% the prior month and the highest since February 2022.

EY chief economist Greg Daco noted Friday that external labor market events had a "noticeable impact" on payrolls in August with the Hollywood strikes, some 1,800 hotel workers in Southern California striking, and the bankruptcy of trucking giant Yellow accounting for nearly 50,000 job losses during August.

Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.

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