Labor market risks of a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area: an update and extension

Using predicted shaking intensity data from the U.S. Geological Survey and establishment location data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), this article matches establishment locations with shaking intensities and attempts to quantify the businesses, employees, and wages that would be affected by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. This article updates several previous Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) articles, which provided economic damage estimates for businesses and employees in the San Francisco Bay area based on scenarios with lower magnitudes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), there is a 72-percent chance of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake hitting the San Francisco Bay area and adjacent regions from 2014 to 2043.