Storms and Jobs: The Effect of Hurricanes on Individuals’ Employment and Earnings over the Long Term

Jeffrey A. Groen, Mark Kutzbach and Anne E. Polivka

Journal of Labor Economics, 2020, vol. 38, issue 3, 653 - 685

Abstract: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the US Gulf Coast in 2005. We use job-level data to compare the evolution of earnings for affected workers in four states with workers from matched control counties. We attribute short-term earnings losses to job separations and long-term gains to wage growth in the affected areas. Wages rose due to reduced labor supply and increased labor demand in the affected labor markets. Damage to a worker’s residence or workplace accentuated short-term earnings losses. Effects varied by prestorm industry, with larger gains for workers in sectors related to rebuilding.

Date: 2020
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Related works:
Working Paper: Storms and Jobs: The Effect of Hurricanes on Individuals’ Employment and Earnings over the Long Term (2017)
Working Paper: Storms and Jobs: The Effect of Hurricanes on Individuals’ Employment and Earnings over the Long Term* (2015)
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