An Economic Assessment of Extreme Heat Events on Labor Productivity in the U.S.

Abstract

Extreme Heat Events (EHE) across the U.S. have become more common as climate change continues to progress. There have been numerous studies on the mortality effects of EHEs but relatively little has been done to study the morbidity effects, especially the economic consequences at a national level. We looked at the economic effect of heat on labor in each U.S. state. From previous studies, labor lost was found to be significant in four high risk occupational sectors: farming, construction, installation, and transportation. Looking at 3 representative years (1983, 2014, and 2016) we found that labor lost per state increased, with California, Texas and Arizona taking the majority of the losses. California was especially prevalent in the farming sector, accounting for >80% of the losses in the occupational category. For the other 3 sectors, California and Texas accounted for >40% individually, and Arizona >6%