Is it getting too hot to work? Investigating the impact of climate change on labour supply in the MENA region

Climate change and its expected consequences have been a growing global concern. This study aims at examining the impact of changes in climate indicators on labour supply in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We use different data sets including the Integrated Labour Market Panel Survey of Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia spanning the period from 2006 to 2018 matched with a globally gridded climate data set to test the impact of changes in temperature, humidity, and precipitation on labour weekly working hours. We differentiate between 'high-risk' groups engaged in economic activities with higher exposure to climate and 'low-risk' groups with relatively less exposure to climate. Our results indicate that changes in temperature and humidity have a significant impact on labour working hours, whereas precipitation has no significant effect; yet the marginal impact of changes in temperature and humidity differs between 'high-risk' and 'low-risk' groups. The results show that working hours are impeded by heat and humidity after a specific threshold.