IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp18592.html

Climate Change and Workplace Injury

Author

Listed:
  • Fu, Qifan

    (The University of Osaka)

  • Sasaki, Masaru

    (The University of Osaka)

Abstract

This study comprehensively assesses the effects of exposure to temperature extremes on workplace health, safety, and economic outcomes. Using Japanese prefecture-level data on work-related injuries and fatalities (2014-–2019) combined with weather records, we estimate that higher temperatures significantly increase work-related injuries and their associated social costs. When exposed to temperature extremes, workers neither reduce their working hours nor exit the labor force. Furthermore, testing the compensating wage differential model reveals minimal wage increases for exposure to temperature extremes. These findings highlight the need for effective policies to mitigate the adverse effects of temperature extremes in the workplace.

Suggested Citation

  • Fu, Qifan & Sasaki, Masaru, 2026. "Climate Change and Workplace Injury," IZA Discussion Papers 18592, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18592
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp18592.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Peng & Deschenes, Olivier & Meng, Kyle & Zhang, Junjie, 2018. "Temperature effects on productivity and factor reallocation: Evidence from a half million chinese manufacturing plants," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-17.
    2. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2017. "Defensive Investments and the Demand for Air Quality: Evidence from the NOx Budget Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(10), pages 2958-2989, October.
    3. Joshua Graff Zivin & Matthew Neidell, 2014. "Temperature and the Allocation of Time: Implications for Climate Change," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 1-26.
    4. Geoffrey Heal & Jisung Park, 2013. "Feeling the Heat: Temperature, Physiology & the Wealth of Nations," NBER Working Papers 19725, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Bui, Thanh-Huong & Bui, Ha-Phuong & Pham, Thi Mai-Anh, 2024. "Effects of temperature on job insecurity: Evidence from Australia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 264-276.
    6. Alan Barreca & Karen Clay & Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2015. "Convergence in Adaptation to Climate Change: Evidence from High Temperatures and Mortality, 1900-2004," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 247-251, May.
    7. Hübler, Michael & Klepper, Gernot & Peterson, Sonja, 2008. "Costs of climate change: The effects of rising temperatures on health and productivity in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 381-393, December.
    8. Alan Barreca & Karen Clay & Olivier Deschenes & Michael Greenstone & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2016. "Adapting to Climate Change: The Remarkable Decline in the US Temperature-Mortality Relationship over the Twentieth Century," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 105-159.
    9. Paul Gertler & Manisha Shah & Stefano M. Bertozzi, 2005. "Risky Business: The Market for Unprotected Commercial Sex," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(3), pages 518-550, June.
    10. Cattaneo, Cristina & Peri, Giovanni, 2016. "The migration response to increasing temperatures," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 127-146.
    11. Jonathan A. Patz & Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum & Tracey Holloway & Jonathan A. Foley, 2005. "Impact of regional climate change on human health," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7066), pages 310-317, November.
    12. W J Wouter Botzen & Olivier Deschenes & Mark Sanders, 2019. "The Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Review of Models and Empirical Studies," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(2), pages 167-188.
    13. Anthony Heyes & Soodeh Saberian, 2022. "Correction to "Temperature and Decisions: Evidence from 207,000 Court Cases" and Reply to Spamann," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 529-533, October.
    14. Marshall Burke & John Dykema & David B. Lobell & Edward Miguel & Shanker Satyanath, 2015. "Incorporating Climate Uncertainty into Estimates of Climate Change Impacts," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 461-471, May.
    15. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2009. "Temperature and Income: Reconciling New Cross-Sectional and Panel Estimates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 198-204, May.
    16. Tatyana Deryugina & Solomon M. Hsiang, 2014. "Does the Environment Still Matter? Daily Temperature and Income in the United States," NBER Working Papers 20750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Marcus Dillender, 2021. "Climate Change and Occupational Health: Are There Limits to Our Ability to Adapt?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(1), pages 184-224.
    18. Park, R. Jisung & Pankratz, Nora & Behrer, A. Patrick, 2021. "Temperature, Workplace Safety, and Labor Market Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 14560, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Carleton, Tamma A & Hsiang, Solomon M, 2016. "Social and economic impacts of climate," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt2vz2d2zz, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    20. Simon Gosling & Jason Lowe & Glenn McGregor & Mark Pelling & Bruce Malamud, 2009. "Associations between elevated atmospheric temperature and human mortality: a critical review of the literature," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 299-341, February.
    21. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2014. "What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 740-798, September.
    22. Olivier Deschenes, 2022. "The impact of climate change on mortality in the United States: Benefits and costs of adaptation," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(3), pages 1227-1249, August.
    23. Teevrat Garg & Maulik Jagnani & Vis Taraz, 2020. "Temperature and Human Capital in India," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(6), pages 1113-1150.
    24. Joshua Graff Zivin & Solomon M. Hsiang & Matthew Neidell, 2018. "Temperature and Human Capital in the Short and Long Run," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 77-105.
    25. Deschenes, Olivier, 2014. "Temperature, human health, and adaptation: A review of the empirical literature," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 606-619.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cosaert, Sam & Nieto, Adrián & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Temperature and Joint Time Use," IZA Discussion Papers 16175, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Valenti, Giulia & Vona, Francesco, 2024. "Hot Wages: How Do Heat Waves Change the Earnings Distribution?," FEEM Working Papers 348848, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Klauber, Hannah & Koch, Nicolas & Pestel, Nico, 2025. "The Immediate and Lasting Effects of Heat Waves On Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 18176, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Picchio, Matteo & van Ours, Jan C., 2024. "The impact of high temperatures on performance in work-related activities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Hai‐Anh H. Dang & Stephane Hallegatte & Trong‐Anh Trinh, 2024. "Does global warming worsen poverty and inequality? An updated review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1873-1905, December.
    6. Yao, Zhenyu & Cao, Xiang, 2025. "Hot and cold, safe and unsafe: Evaluating the impact of extreme temperatures on work-related accidents in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Joshua S. Graff Zivin & Anthony Lepinteur & Matthew J. Neidell & Adrian Nieto Castro, 2025. "A Cold Stop: Temperature, Unemployment and Joblessness Dynamics," NBER Working Papers 34487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Hong, Yumin, 2025. "Heat and humidity on early-life outcomes: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    9. Joshua Graff Zivin & Matthew E. Kahn, 2016. "Industrial Productivity in a Hotter World: The Aggregate Implications of Heterogeneous Firm Investment in Air Conditioning," NBER Working Papers 22962, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Xie, Victoria Wenxin, 2024. "Labor market adjustment to extreme heat shocks: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 266-283.
    11. Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Nguyen, Manh-Hung & Nguyen, Toan Truong, 2022. "Climate Change, Cold Waves, Heat Waves, and Mortality: Evidence from a Lower Middle-Income Country," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1034, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Jaqueline Oliveira & Bruno Palialol & Paula Pereda, 2021. "Do temperature shocks affect non-agriculture wages in Brazil? Evidence from individual-level panel data," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2021_13, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    13. Moustafa Feriga & Nancy Lozano Gracia & Pieter Serneels, 2025. "The Impact of Climate Change on Work: Lessons for Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 40(1), pages 104-146.
    14. Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Popova, Olga & Solomin, Pavel, 2018. "Misfortunes never come singly: Consecutive weather shocks and mortality in Russia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 249-258.
    15. Bui, Thanh-Huong & Bui, Ha-Phuong & Pham, Thi Mai-Anh, 2024. "Effects of temperature on job insecurity: Evidence from Australia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 264-276.
    16. Phan, Diep Hoang, 2024. "Adverse effects of extreme temperature on human development: Empirical evidence from household data for Vietnam across regions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    17. R. Jisung Park & Joshua Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Jonathan Smith, 2020. "Heat and Learning," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 306-339, May.
    18. Chengzheng Li & Jiajia Cong & Haiying Gu, 2020. "Could Weather Fluctuations Affect Local Economic Growth? Evidence from Counties in the People's Republic of China," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 37(2), pages 201-224, September.
    19. Li, Chengzheng & Cong, Jiajia & Yin, Lijuan, 2021. "Extreme heat and exports: Evidence from Chinese exporters," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    20. Chang, Jun-Jie & Mi, Zhifu & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2023. "Temperature and GDP: A review of climate econometrics analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 383-392.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18592. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.