If You Looked at the Eclipse Today, You Cost America $694 Million

Today in “this is why we can’t have celestial things,” we go to Reuters:

American employers will see at least $694 million in missing output for the roughly 20 minutes that outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates workers will take out of their workday on Monday to stretch their legs, head outside the office and gaze at the nearly two-and-a-half minute eclipse.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas—great firm name, by the way—calculate that 87 million employees will be working during the eclipse, and since nearly all of those employees will take at least a few minutes to comment on how dark it’s getting, each of them will be responsible for roughly $7.98 in lost productivity.

I wonder if Challenger, Gray & Christmas took the time to figure out how many of us would stay at work for a few extra minutes today to make up for our mid-morning break, or maybe skip lunch, or figure out a way to get that $7.98 worth of work done anyway.


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