US Natural Gas Consumption vs US Annual Working Hours per Worker

US Natural Gas Consumption and US Annual Working Hours per Worker correlate at r = -0.53 over 59 years (1965–2023), p < 0.0001. With the time trend removed, r = +0.32. Direction flips without the trend.

Verdict: Direction flips without the trend. The raw correlation is -0.53, but once each series' time trend is removed it becomes 0.32. The year-to-year movements run the opposite way to the long-run trends, so the headline number is misleading.

Pearson r: -0.53
p-value: < 0.0001
Years compared (n): 59 (1965–2023)
95% confidence interval: -0.69 to -0.32
Correlation with the time trend removed: +0.32

Sources

US Natural Gas Consumption (TWh): Our World in Data. US Natural Gas Consumption (Our World in Data: Gas).
US Annual Working Hours per Worker (hours): Our World in Data. US Annual Working Hours per Worker (Our World in Data: Working hours per worker).

Related pairs

Atmospheric Methane (global) vs US Natural Gas Consumption (r = +0.98)
US Natural Gas Consumption vs US Federal Debt Outstanding (r = +0.94)
US Natural Gas Consumption vs US Wind Power Generation (r = +0.93)
US Natural Gas Consumption vs US R&D Expenditure (r = +0.93)
US Natural Gas Consumption vs US Renewable Energy Share (r = +0.92)
US Natural Gas Consumption vs US GDP (current US$) (r = +0.92)

Correlation does not imply causation. How the verdict is worked out.