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Climate Change and Occupational Health: Are There Limits to Our Ability to Adapt?

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Abstract

This study considers the relationship between temperature and occupational health. The results indicate that both high and low temperatures increase injury rates and that high temperatures have more severe adverse effects in warmer climates, which suggests that avoiding the adverse effects of high temperatures may be easier for workers when hot days are rarer. While research on the effect of temperature on mortality finds substantial capacity for adaption with current technology, the results presented here suggest that outdoor workers face challenges in adapting to high temperatures.

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  • Marcus Dillender, 2019. "Climate Change and Occupational Health: Are There Limits to Our Ability to Adapt?," Upjohn Working Papers 19-299, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:19-299
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    Cited by:

    1. Mattia Filomena & Matteo Picchio & Alessia Lo Turco, 2024. "Trade exposure, immigrants and workplace injuries," Working Papers 488, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    2. Chen, Guifu & Wei, Boyu, 2024. "Low-carbon city pilots and site selection for migrant employment: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    3. Picchio, Matteo & van Ours, Jan C., 2024. "The impact of high temperatures on performance in work-related activities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Molitor, David & White, Corey, 2024. "Do cities mitigate or exacerbate environmental damages to health?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Mullins, Jamie & White, Corey, 2019. "Does Access to Health Care Mitigate Environmental Damages?," IZA Discussion Papers 12717, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Jelnov, Pavel, 2021. "Sunset Long Shadows: Time, Crime, and Perception of Change," IZA Discussion Papers 14770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Charmaine Mullins-Jaime, 2023. "Trending Occupational Fatalities and Injuries: An Assessment of Projected Climate Change Related Impacts in the United States since 1992," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-14, June.
    8. Giuliano Masiero & Fabrizio Mazzonna & Michael Santarossa, 2022. "The effect of absolute versus relative temperature on health and the role of social care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(6), pages 1228-1248, June.
    9. Mario Lackner & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2024. "When performance melts away: Heat causes mental errors in high-stakes competitions," Economics working papers 2024-11, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    10. Andrew Ireland & David Johnston & Rachel Knott, 2024. "Impacts of Extreme Heat on Labor Force Dynamics," Papers 2024-01, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    11. Park, R. Jisung & Pankratz, Nora & Behrer, A. Patrick, 2021. "Temperature, Workplace Safety, and Labor Market Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 14560, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Mullins, Jamie T. & White, Corey, 2020. "Can access to health care mitigate the effects of temperature on mortality?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    13. Katharina Drescher & Benedikt Janzen, 2023. "When Weather Wounds Workers: The Impact of Temperature on Workplace Accidents," Working Papers 226, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multipliers; agglomeration economies; congestion effects; high-technology industries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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