What happens when it is too hot to work?

Dec 5th 2023

Excess heat exacerbates existing medical conditions like lung disease or cardiovascular problems, making them more lethal. It also raises the risk of dehydration which can lead to kidney problems. The very worst extremes of heat and humidity can make it impossible for people to cool down; in effect, their organs cook. In America alone it is thought that heat waves kill more people each year than any other type of natural disaster. A recent study by the Lancet, a medical journal, tried to calculate the effect that this can have on economies

The study estimated that high temperatures led to 490bn lost hours of labour in 2022 (meaning that a combination of factors such as heat and sunlight made it too dangerous to work). Global GDP was $863bn smaller than it would otherwise have been. That is more than triple the amount lost from extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods. The authors caution that their estimates do not take into account labour in the informal economy.