Business

BLS: Market Basket Drama Sunk National Jobs Numbers

Steve Paulenka held up a stack of petitions he said were signed by customers in support of bringing back Arthur T. Demoulas at a massive rally in July. Dina Rudick/Globe Staff

By Adam Vaccaro

September 5, 2014

1 minute to read

Blame the weak August jobs numbers on whatever you like—but our local summer saga at Market Basket might have had some effect, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Erica Groshen, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, noted Friday that employment in August at U.S. food and beverage stores fell by a seasonally adjusted 17,000. “This industry was impacted by employment disruptions at a grocery store chain in New England,’’ Groshen said in a statement.

Now, what New England grocery chain could Goshen be referencing? Probably not Shaw’s or Stop & Shop.

Only a handful of Market Basket employees were actually fired during the summer’s struggle, but thousands saw their hours cut to zero and were encouraged to apply unemployment benefits. They could have been reported as out of work.

Beyond that, the protest movement for the reinstatement of Arthur T. Demoulas also had a big ol’ ripple effect into the supply chain, as some vendors (as well as some neighboring stores) were forced to lay off workers due to inactivity at the chain.