Heat causes large earnings losses for informal-sector workers in India

FOCUS

This paper was published by the journal Environmental Research Letters on November 1, 2024. It was authored by Saudamini Das from the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, and E. Somanathan from the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi. The research for the paper was conducted with a grant from the Environment for Development Initiative. 

The paper investigates the impact of rising temperatures on the earnings, labour productivity and health of informal-sector workers. The findings are based on daily surveys of nearly 400 workers across two Delhi slums conducted between May 21 and June 21, 2019, yielding around 10 thousand observations. Respondents to the survey included launderers, construction workers, painters, rickshaw drivers, food vendors, rag pickers and cobblers among others.

The effect of heat on labour productivity and output in formal manufacturing has been studied but data on its effects on the informal sector is still lacking, the authors note. The study aims to fill this gap, especially considering that the informal sector comprises 82 per cent of the overall labour force in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. The survey covered questions on sleep quality, hours of sleep, hours worked, earnings and expenditure, and health status. It found that rising temperatures, heat and humidity significantly impact workers’ earnings and raise expenses towards items to help cope with rising temperatures. The authors note that there is need for more research from multiple locations and climates to better understand the impact of rising temperatures on the informal sector globally.

The 21-page paper is divided into four broad sections: Introduction (Section 1); Data (Section 2), Estimation and results (Section 3) and Discussion (section 4).

    FACTOIDS

  1. The study notes that rising temperatures have a negative effect on both gross and net earnings of informal workers. A one degree increase in mean temperature could be associated with a roughly 16 per cent decline in net earnings. A one degree increase in wet bulb temperature, on the other hand could be associated with a decline in net earnings of around 19 per cent

  2. Relative humidity also has consistent negative and statistically significant effects on various measures of worker welfare, the paper states. A single percentage point increase is associated with a 3.5 per cent fall in net earnings at mean temperatures. The paper also looks at specific humidity, and finds that even a 0.1 gram increase in water vapor per kilogram of air can be associated with a fall in net earnings of nearly 10 per cent.

  3. Health impacts of temperature rise were also evident in the study in the rising probability of sickness, reduced probability of going to work, and the reduced probability of sleeping well. A single degree increase in temperature increases the probability of falling sick increases by 5-7 per cent, and reduces the probability of going to work and sleeping well by 1-2 per cent each.

  4. According to the study, medical expenses increase by 9 percentage points with every degree increase in minimum and maximum temperature. They rise by 14 points with every degree increase in average temperature, and by nearly 15 points in wet bulb temperature. (Wet bulb temperature is the lowest temperature to which air can be cooled by the evaporation of water. It combines dry air temperature with humidity and gives a measure of heat-stress conditions on humans. It is a limit that considers heat and humidity beyond which humans cannot tolerate high temperatures.)

  5. The study found heatwaves to have significant impacts on workers. Their average net earnings were 40 per cent lower on heatwave days than on non-heatwave days. Workers were 6 percentage points points less likely to go to work during a heatwave, and were 25 percentage points more likely to be sick or have a family member who was sick.


    Focus and Factoids by Pranav Patel.


    PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.

AUTHOR

Saudamini Das and E Somanathan

COPYRIGHT

Environmental Research Letters

PUBLICATION DATE

01 Nov, 2024

TAGS

#climate-change #heat-stress #labour

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