What Are the Impacts of Tropical Cyclones on Employment? An Analysis Based on Meta-Regression

Abstract

AbstractTo investigate the general principle of the impact of tropical cyclones on employment, explore the reason for the divergence among existing research conclusions, and put forward some suggestions for post-disaster reconstruction, this paper employs meta-regression analysis to study the impacts of tropical cyclones on the quantity of labor employed and employee remuneration from four aspects: industry dimension, time dimension, income dimension, and tropical cyclone intensity. The results are as follows: 1) Tropical cyclones create an impact on the intensity of changes in employment remuneration in the primary industry, and the impact in the secondary industry is greater than that in the tertiary industry. 2) In the short term, the impact of tropical cyclones on employment is negative and the impact intensity is strong, whereas in the medium and long terms, the impact is positive and the intensity of impact decreases. 3) Although tropical cyclones increase the quantity of labor employed from low-income groups, they decrease their employment remuneration. In addition, the impact of disasters on the number of employed high-income groups is relatively small compared to that of low-income groups. 4) A higher category of tropical cyclone results in a greater positive impact on the employment of labor force. Accordingly, the following suggestions are made: 1) The government should issue corresponding policies to provide “temporary disaster subsidies” for disaster-stricken low-income groups. 2) Insurance companies should introduce commercial insurance concerning “post-disaster employment” for employers to purchase before any disaster occurs so as to offer disaster-stricken employees compensation.