Vulnerability to climate change and water scarcity is increasing globally. How this affects individual employment outcomes is still not well understood. Using survey data collected from approximately half a million individuals across Sub-Saharan Africa over from 2005 to 2018, this paper examines the causal relationship between water availability and labor market outcomes. It combines georeferenced household survey data with a drought index that captures the exogenous effects of both rainfall and temperature on water availability. The findings suggest that extremely dry periods decrease employment by 2.5 percentage points on average, and wet periods with an abundance of soil moisture (not flooding) increase employment by 4 percentage points. The negative effects of dry shocks are larger in rural, poorer, and agriculture-dependent areas and for individuals who hold low-skilled jobs or work as farmers. Moreover, the paper finds that the burden of dry shocks disproportionately falls on women, while the benefits of wet shocks accrue more to men. The presence of irrigation infrastructure and the historical evolution of local livelihood strategies—historical mode of subsistence—partly mediate the impacts of water shocks.
Authors
- Citation
- “ Khan, Amjad M. ; Kuate, Landry ; Pongou, Roland ; Zhang, Fan . 2024 . Weather, Water, and Work: Climatic Water Variability and Labor Market Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa . Policy Research Working Paper; 10823 . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41789 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO . ”
- Collection(s)
- Policy Research Working Papers
- DOI
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-10823
- Identifier externaldocumentum
- 34349684
- Identifier internaldocumentum
- 34349684
- Published in
- United States of America
- RelationisPartofseries
- Policy Research Working Paper; 10823
- Report
- WPS10823
- Rights
- CC BY 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
- UNIT
- Global Solutions Water (SWAGL)
- URI
- https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41789
- date disclosure
- 2024-06-27
- region geographical
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Files
Table of Contents
- Introduction 4
- Conceptual Framework 7
- Data and Identification Strategy 8
- Data Description 9
- Summary Statistics 11
- Identification Strategy 12
- Main Results 13
- Estimating Impacts on Employment 13
- Heterogeneity of Impacts 14
- Individual Attributes 14
- Effects on Type of Employment 16
- Infrastructure, Institutions and Climate Adaptation 17
- Interactions with Irrigation Infrastructure 17
- Interaction with Pre-colonial Modes of Subsistence 18
- Conclusion 22
- Figures and Tables 24
- Appendix 40
