--- title: Total Solar Eclipse: Lost Productivity Costs $700 Million description: People skipping work for the solar eclipse could cost employers in the U.S. nearly $700 million in lost productivity canonical: https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/ copyright: © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. terms: https://legal.time.com/terms-of-service/ license_contact: syndication@time.com author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-21T14:40:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:30:09.210Z article:section: Science og:title: People Playing Eclipse Hooky Could Cost Businesses $700 Million og:description: Millions are expected to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event og:url: https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd54ddd72b99ad2fd/6988da74e76ad23bad62ecf7/eclipse-productivity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Depoe Bay Oregon prepares for coming Solar Eclipse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Playing Eclipse Hooky Could Cost Businesses $700 Million twitter:description: Millions are expected to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd54ddd72b99ad2fd/6988da74e76ad23bad62ecf7/eclipse-productivity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Skipping Work for the Solar Eclipse Could Cost Their Employers $700 Million > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=c22ac44c-63ba-4c3a-bfdf-b63697097602&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare [Watch (HLS stream): Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X6t8RKE9.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2017-06-29. TIME's Jeff Kluger explains the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse._  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Aug 21, 2017 2:40 PM UTC  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Aug 21, 2017 2:40 PM UTC The [total solar eclipse](http://time.com/4907357/total-solar-eclipse-2017-america/?xid=homepage) could cost employers in the U.S. nearly $700 million in lost productivity, according to a recent analysis. Millions of Americans will mark a historic moment Monday when a [total solar eclipse ](http://time.com/4900288/total-solar-eclipse-virtual-reality/)sweeps across the country from coast to coast. The rare celestial spectacle can only be seen in America, [along a 70-mile-wide band](http://time.com/4902132/solar-eclipse-path/) that starts in Oregon and ends in South Carolina. The entire event will be over in less than two hours, and totality is expected to last less than three minutes in each place it’s visible. But the magnitude of Monday’s midday eclipse is enough to cost $694 million in disrupted productivity, according to an [analysis by Challenger, Grey & Christmas](https://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases), a law firm that regularly estimates lost productivity around the NCAA’s March Madness. **_NEXT:_** [**_Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes_**](http://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/) The law firm used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and calculated average hourly wage data and the number of full-time employed workers 16 and over to come up with its results. It found that the areas, particularly busy cities, along the eclipse’s path of totality could see almost $200 million in lost productivity. The total eclipse will touch parts of 14 states, beginning in Lincoln Beach, Ore. at 10:16 a.m. PST and concluding near Columbia, S.C. at about 2:44 p.m. EDT. All of North America will see a [partial solar eclipse](http://time.com/4902927/partial-solar-eclipse-definition/). ## Transcript Total solar eclipses occur when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, blocking solar light. They're exceedingly rare. The last one to touch the US was in 1979. On average, they happen where you live once every 375 years. The sun is about 400 times larger than the moon, but the sun is also 400 times farther away so the two bodies appear about the same size to us on Earth. The moon orbits the Earth once each month, so why doesn't the moon shadow the Earth causing an eclipse with each pass? Partly because the moon's orbit is tilted slightly, which causes its shadow to miss the Earth most of the time. Another reason is if a moon's orbit is elliptical. For much of its orbit the moon is farther away from Earth and appears too small to block out the sun completely Those eclipses are called annular. Only when the eclipse occurs at the moon's closest approach is a visible total eclipse possible even then the narrow band of totality usually tracks over water or away from population centers that's why this total solar eclipse is so special. As it cuts a path of darkness across the US this August 21st, it could be the most viewed total eclipse in history, and for many the experience of a lifetime ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/"},"headline":"People Skipping Work for the Solar Eclipse Could Cost Their Employers $700 Million","datePublished":"2017-08-21T14:40:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:30:09.210Z","description":"Millions are expected to watch the once-in-a-lifetime event","url":"https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/","keywords":["Eclipse","Space","onetime","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd54ddd72b99ad2fd/6988da74e76ad23bad62ecf7/eclipse-productivity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd54ddd72b99ad2fd/6988da74e76ad23bad62ecf7/eclipse-productivity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Depoe Bay Oregon prepares for coming Solar Eclipse","caption":"Depoe Bay Oregon prepares for coming Solar Eclipse","creditText":"Mike Blake—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/eclipse/","name":"Eclipse"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/","name":"People Skipping Work for the Solar Eclipse Could Cost Their Employers $700 Million"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is So Rare","description":"TIME's Jeff Kluger explains the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/X6t8RKE9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-06-29T21:57:11.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/X6t8RKE9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/","duration":"PT1M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4908595/total-solar-eclipse-lost-productivity/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```