Temperature Increase, Labor Supply And Cost Of Adaptation In Developing Economies: Evidence On Urban Workers In Informal Sectors

Heat wave impact on labor supply is less researched, though workers in exposed occupations have been seriously impacted in recent years, especially in developing economies. The paper identifies labor reallocation and coping strategies of poor urban workers on a heat wave day compared to a normal summer day by surveying informal sector workers who work in the open. The workers are found to forgo 1.19 h of work time and 0.46 h of family time and use these extra 1.65 h to rest more on heat wave days to adapt to heat stress. They resort to other adaptations like eating appropriate food with high water content, keeping their house cool by repeated wiping of floor using cooling ingredients, covering the roof of their living space with paddy straw, putting thick grass curtains, using fans for longer hours etc. These adaptations including the work time loss costs around INR 195 per heat wave day to a household, which is, on average, 2.7% of their monthly income. The paper approximates the private adaptation costs of informal sector workers to heat waves.