World Bank: decrease in wages in Peru would also be associated with climate change

A report from World Bank (WB) associates the increase in annual temperature of 1°C with the decrease, in this same period, of 1% in wages in Latin America. The effect is especially noticeable in countries with warmer climates such as Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

The report “Thriving: Making Cities Climate Ready” points out that the productivity of workers in the region decreases as average heat increases, a situation that translates into lower wages.

The WB refers that cities, engines of prosperity for the purpose of analysis, are a cornerstone for climate change, because they generate about 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a projection that reaches 86% in countries high income.

According to the document, between 1970 and 2021 the number of people living in cities rose from 1.19 billion to 4.46 billion, and the Earth’s surface temperature rose 1.19 °C above the pre-industrial level.

The World Bank report, collected by the Reuters agency, includes a document that evaluates the effects of high temperatures on labor productivity in cities of eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. To develop the analysis, it was considered that a day is hot if the average temperature exceeds 35°C.

The study found that “both hot days and high temperatures reduce the labor productivity of workers, as measured by wages.” The researchers argue that “if the number of hot days in a temperate city like Medellín increases by 1% per year, average wages would fall by 0.8%.

Finally, the WB warns that cities in low-income and lower-middle-income countries are the most exposed. The work produced an index that combines projections of six hazards: floods, heat stress, tropical cyclones, sea level rise, water stress, and forest fires. In the cities that make up low-income and lower-middle-income countries, it is where the greatest risks are.