Abstract
This study investigated the impact of extreme climate events on work absence in Jamaica. To this end, we constructed a quarterly individual level dataset on labor market and climatic data for 2004–2014. We find that while excess rainfall increases the odds of being temporarily absent from work, heat is unlikely to have an effect. The estimated outcome of excess rainfall is reasonable given the possibility of flooded roads, which can impede travel to work. This draws attention to the development of e-commuting policies to mitigate any negative effects on productivity.
Highlights
Jamaica is vulnerable to extreme climate events
This study investigated the impact of extreme climate events on work absence in Jamaica
This study investigated the impact that extreme climate has on absence from work
Summary
Jamaica is vulnerable to extreme climate events. based on an environmental vulnerability index that incorporates factors such as exposure to natural hazards and disasters and climate change, it is categorized as one of the most extremely vulnerable countries in the Caribbean (Kaly et al 1999). Research like this is important given the seemingly limited capacity of the Jamaican labor market to deal with work absenteeism and the daunting climate change projections that could affect the workforce. It introduced a quantitative study in the Caribbean, a disasterprone region whose climatic future is marked by more intense and frequent weather events (Elsner et al 2008; Burgess et al 2018) It made use of quarterly individual-level data, which is quite important in capturing the effects of climate extremes on worker absence.
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