Did climate change impact US labor stats?

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

As some workers take time off this month to enjoy the summer, others are forcibly left jobless due to extreme weather, according to the latest United States Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

The disappointing report for July unleashed a “Freakout Friday” and “Manic Monday” in financial markets and triggered a wholesale resetting of expectations for how much the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates next month.

Although the statistics office noted that Hurricane Beryl had no impact on the report, they did mention the weather’s impact on rising unemployment rates.

Also on my radar today:

A construction worker keeps covered up from the sun as he works during hot weather while building a large office complex in San Diego, California, U.S. REUTERS/Mike Blake

The report noted that the rise in the unemployment rate from 4.1% in June to 4.3% in July had to do with inclement weather including Beryl’s impact on Texas.

The number of people who reported not being at work due to bad weather was 436,000 nonfarm workers and 461,000 with agriculture workers included.

That is not just a record for the month of July, it was more than 10 times the July average dating back to 1976 when BLS started tracking the metric. And more than 1 million others could only work part time due to the weather, also a record for the month.

The report said, “unusually severe weather is more likely to have an impact on average weekly hours than on employment.”

In order for severe weather conditions to reduce employment estimates, employees have to be off work without pay for the entire pay period.

The number of people who said their job loss was temporary was the highest in about three years last month and accounted for more than half of the overall increase in the number of unemployed of 352,000.

If their temporary layoffs last only a few weeks or don’t become permanent, economists expect most of those people will report as employed in the report for August that will come out next month.

“We think some of those layoffs may have been related to Hurricane Beryl,” Oxford Economics Lead U.S. Economist Nancy Vanden Houten wrote.

Although the report included a caveat about the potential effects of Hurricane Beryl, it did overlook another element of extreme weather – rising heat.

Heat can be a killer. An estimated 350 New Yorkers die prematurely each year because of extreme heat, according to the city’s 2024 Heat-Related Mortality Report. 

Lack of access to air conditioning at home is the most important risk factor in such deaths, it said.

Reuters correspondent Gloria Dickie spoke to Anthony Gay and his family, who have been affected by the harsh summers in New York City. A small, portable air conditioner in his bedroom is the only relief they have from soaring temperatures in their Brooklyn rental.

“The rest of the apartment is literally unbearable to walk through,” said Gay, 40, whose asthmatic son struggles to breathe in the heat.

Across the United States, about 12 percent of homes – or about 12.7 million households – had no access to air conditioning, in 2020, according to the most recent government data. Many more had some air conditioning, like Gay, but not enough to beat the heat.

Most often, homes with little or no air conditioning are occupied by low-income residents – often renters — and people of color, a 2022 Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas found.

Click here for the full Reuters feature that examines the pushback landlords are giving on creating habitable homes for their renters. 

A large sinkhole opened up on Grange Fall Loop in Wimauma after Hurricane Debby continues to move north of central Florida, U.S. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

Alastair Chisholm, policy director at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), shares his thoughts on Britain’s water regulator planning to fine debt-laden Thames Water 104 million pounds ($133 million):

“Whilst there is understandable focus on storm sewage overflows in the £88bn proposed investment programme agreed by Ofwat, impacts on lakes like Windermere are more associated with the standards of treated effluent being discharged by treatment works as well as agricultural pollution across the catchments that feed into it.

“Within these huge expenditure programmes by water companies, it is essential that money is focused on where most harm is being caused, not just on totemic issues. Failure to do so is a waste of billions of taxpayer money.

“There needs to be better monitoring of our river catchment and lakes, with more targeted solutions delivery, catchment by catchment. This should come as part of a full review of water governance and management by the government.

“This must form part of a wider, deeper programme of reform which focuses not just on the water industry but on how pressures from agriculture, alongside toxic pollution from highways and chemicals, can be tackled in a far more systematic way.

“At the heart of this investment should be skills. Unless we invest in a bigger and more diverse profession than the engineers, ecologists and scientists that operate in the sector today, we will not be able to deliver transformation after years of under-investment, inadequate regulation and progressive decline in the health and resilience of our water environment.

“Our members are extensively unhappy with the regulation and performance of the water companies, yet never before has their expertise been so critical to society and a freshwater future.” 

In Spite of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report stating that the temporary unemployment rates may bounce back in August due to Hurricane Beryl, companies in the United States and Canada have continued their job cuts in 2024 after letting go thousands last year, as the outlook on interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve remains uncertain even as recession fears recede rapidly.

South Korean farmer, Ma Myung-sun, stands next to a banana tree at his community farm in Seoul, South Korea. REUTERS/Minwoo Park

In keeping with the theme around extreme weather and the workforce, today’s spotlight shines a light on a community farm initiative in South Korea.

South Korean farmer Ma Myung-sun had low expectations for the crop of subtropical bananas he planted in a community farm in Seoul, but warmer temperatures due to climate change have produced a welcome surprise in the form of flowers and fruit.

Ma, 73, still has to use a greenhouse for part of the year to shield the plants from South Korea’s cold winters, and is among a growing number of farmers experimenting with crops usually more suited to a warmer climate.

“I feel that the climate crisis has become very serious,” said Ma, who has been a farmer for 25 years. South Korea lies in the temperate zone and has four distinct seasons, but its climate appears to be getting warmer and wetter throughout the year.

South Korea’s cultivated area of subtropical crops has jumped from about 295 hectares (730 acres) in 2021 to 3,306 hectares in 2023, with 67 banana farms in the south, according to the Rural Development Administration, a state agricultural organization. 

“I want to try growing other tropical crops too. So, as you can see here, I have planted these papaya trees as well,” said Ma, pointing to a shrub growing next to the banana trees.

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