Eclipse’s economic impact small in cosmic scheme

You know those 20 minutes you spent outside the office on Monday gazing skyward at the eclipse and ogling the cool shadows?

That mass timeout cost the U.S. economy $694 million, according to outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The firm derived the estimate from federal stats: 87.3 million people at work during the eclipse, multiplied by $7.95, the cost of 20 minutes of unproductive time based on an average hourly wage of $23.86.

Such party-pooper calculations are not new. It’s been estimated employers took a productivity hit of $615 million per hour during March Madness; $290 million for every 10 minutes workers spent jawboning about the Super Bowl; and $450 million for every 14 minutes spent shopping at work on Cyber Monday.

Skeptics take issue: “Challenger Gray’s methodology assumes workers are working every minute that they’re at work. And that diversions like March Madness and eclipses are the only time they lift their gaze,” tech website Recode snarked last week. “Much more likely: Time Americans spend watching buzzer beaters and eclipses is time they would have spent screwing around on Facebook, or whatever.”

Challenger acknowledged the eclipse wouldn’t nick the economy as a whole. It also noted that such group events in the workplace can pay off by boosting morale.

DAVID CARSON/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Nancy Kolaz looks up as the moon begins to blot out the sun.