Natural Disasters and the Real Effect of Skilled Labor Mobility

Yuna Heo and S. Ghon Rhee
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Yuna Heo: University of Basel - Faculty of Business and Economics; Swiss Finance Institute
S. Ghon Rhee: University of Hawaii at Manoa - Shidler College of Business; University of Hawaii at Manoa - Department of Financial Economics and Institutions

No 25-68, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series from Swiss Finance Institute

Abstract: This study investigates the effects of skilled labor mobility as a response to climate disasters. Based on a novel measure of firm-level skilled labor mobility, we identify that skilled labor mobility exposed to climate disasters leads to increased liquidity buffers whereas routine-task labor does not. Additionally, firms with skilled labor mobility exposed to frequent climate disasters experience a decrease in sales growth and market shares, while firms with more routine-task labor remain unaffected. Furthermore, state-level climate adaptation policies can mitigate the adverse effects of climate disasters. Overall, the findings suggest that skilled labor mobility increases the cost of labor adjustment induced by climate change, but adaptation actions promote resilience to the challenges caused by labor market frictions.

Keywords: skilled labor; labor mobility; climate disasters; precautionary savings; product market outcomes; climate adaptation policy; routine-task labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G32 G38 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2025-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2568

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