ILO Working Paper 26

Hurricanes and their implications for unemployment: Evidence from the Caribbean

Although extreme climate events pose significant challenges to labour markets, there is a paucity of empirical literature studying their impacts. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of hurricane strikes on unemployment across a sample of Caribbean countries. In breaking down the unemployment data, our findings demonstrate that there is very little difference in the impact for adult males and females as well as male youth, however female youth may be slightly more disadvantaged. Finally, labour legislation appears to provide some mitigating impact from hurricane strikes.