Labour supply and temperature in Europe
Description
Heat negatively affects human health and can lead to poorer work performance (reduced productivity) or lower number hours committed to work (labour supply), especially in highly exposed sectors such as agriculture, forestry, mining and quarrying, or construction. Productivity suffers from workers needing to slow down pace of work and to take additional breaks to rehydrate and cool down. When it is too hot to work, labour supply hours decrease, particularly for jobs that require physical activity.
Caveats
The main caveat is that the labour supply data is available only at the annual level, hence within year heterogeneity cannot be accounted for.
Reference information
Source:
Publication:
van Daalen, K. R., et al., 2022, ‘The 2022 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: towards a climate resilient future’, The Lancet Public Health 7(11), pp. E942-E965. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(22)00197-9.
Data sources:
- Climatic data: ECMWF ERA5 Land Reanalysis data. Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store
- Labour data: Eurostat EU Labour Force Survey data
Additional reading:
- Dasgupta, S., et al., 2021, Effects of climate change on combined labour productivity and supply: an empirical, multi-model study, The Lancet Planetary Health 5(7), e455-e465. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000131
- Dasgupta S., and Robinson E. J. Z., 2023, The labour force in a changing climate: Research and policy needs, PLOS Climate 2(1): e0000131. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000131
Contributor:
Published in Climate-ADAPT Dec 05 2022 - Last Modified in Climate-ADAPT Apr 04 2024