Temperature and work: Time allocated to work under varying climate and labor market conditions

Workers in climate exposed industries such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing face increased health risks of working on high temperature days and may make decisions to reduce work on high-heat days to mitigate this risk. Utilizing the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) for the period 2003...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-08, Vol.16 (8), p.e0254224
Main Authors: Neidell, Matthew, Graff Zivin, Joshua, Sheahan, Megan, Willwerth, Jacqueline, Fant, Charles, Sarofim, Marcus, Martinich, Jeremy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Censuses
Climate
Climate change
Climate models
Climatic changes
Daily temperatures
Datasets
Decisions
Diaries
Earth Sciences
Economic aspects
Economic development
Economic growth
Economics
Employment
Environmental aspects
Environmental protection
Great Recession
Health risks
High temperature
Industrial economics
Labor
Labor market
Medicine and Health Sciences
Meteorological data
Precipitation
Social Sciences
Time allocation
Time use
Variables
Workers
Working hours
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Summary:Workers in climate exposed industries such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing face increased health risks of working on high temperature days and may make decisions to reduce work on high-heat days to mitigate this risk. Utilizing the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) for the period 2003 through 2018 and historical weather data, we model the relationship between daily temperature and time allocation, focusing on hours worked by high-risk laborers. The results indicate that labor allocation decisions are context specific and likely driven by supply-side factors. We do not find a significant relationship between temperature and hours worked during the Great Recession (2008–2014), perhaps due to high competition for employment, however during periods of economic growth (2003–2007, 2015–2018) we find a significant reduction in hours worked on high-heat days. During periods of economic growth, for every degree above 90 on a particular day, the average high-risk worker reduces their time devoted to work by about 2.6 minutes relative to a 90-degree day. This effect is expected to intensify in the future as temperatures rise. Applying the modeled relationships to climate projections through the end of century, we find that annual lost wages resulting from decreased time spent working on days over 90 degrees across the United States range from $36.7 to $80.0 billion in 2090 under intermediate and high emission futures, respectively.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0254224