Routine rainfall cuts Filipino workers’ hours, PIDS study finds

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

As the southwest monsoon (Habagat) continues to bring heavy rains across the country, a new Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) study has found that routine rainfall reduces the number of hours Filipinos work each week, with day-to-day and short-term workers bearing the greatest impact.

In the discussion paper “When Rain Falls, Work Slows: Rainfall Variability and Working Hours in the Philippine Labor Market,” PIDS Research Specialist John Joseph Ocbina and Senior Research Fellow Dr. John Paolo Rivera analyzed nationally representative Labor Force Survey (LFS) data alongside regional rainfall records from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

The findings suggest that frequent rainy periods, not only major storms and typhoons, can add up to meaningful productivity and income losses across the labor market.

“At the aggregate level, rainfall exerts a statistically significant but modest negative association with weekly hours worked,” the authors noted.

“When considered cumulatively across repeated weather events and large numbers of workers, even small reductions in weekly hours may translate into meaningful losses in labor input, productivity, and earnings at the sectoral and regional levels,” they added.

The Labor Force Survey data further illustrate how weather-related disruptions shorten workweeks rather than stop work entirely.

Among workers whose hours were reduced due to bad weather, nearly 32 percent worked only 21 to 30 hours during the reference week, while about 31 percent worked only 11 to 20 hours.

Another 17 percent managed 10 hours or less, suggesting that many workers remain employed but lose substantial working time during rainy periods.

Figure 6 of the study reveals a strong concentration in short to moderate work schedules, highlighting the intensity of weather-related labor disruptions.

The burden is concentrated in occupations that depend on outdoor work or physical presence.

Farm laborers, fishery workers, construction laborers, and transport workers account for the largest share of employees affected by weather-related reductions in working hours.

Regional patterns likewise indicate greater vulnerability in high-rainfall areas such as the Cordillera Administrative Region, Caraga, Eastern Visayas, and Bicol, where many livelihoods depend on agriculture, fisheries, and other weather-sensitive industries.

According to the researchers, the findings suggest that rainfall should no longer be viewed solely as an environmental or disaster management concern.

“Rainfall affects labor supply not only through direct exposure but also via disruptions to mobility, production processes, and supply chains,” the authors said.

Further, the study reveals that workers in day-to-day and short-term employment arrangements are more vulnerable to weather-related disruptions than those in permanent positions.

In Iloilo City, construction workers paid by the day or by the hour described this vulnerability firsthand.

“I work construction over in Mandurriao. We get paid by the day, sometimes by the hour. When the sky gets dark around 2:00 PM and the Habagat rain starts pouring, the foreman blows the whistle. Work stops. You’d think clocking out early is a blessing, but it’s a curse,” construction worker Johnny said in Hiligaynon.

“We don’t get paid for the hours we sit waiting under the tarpaulin. Last week, it rained three days straight. No severe flooding, just that steady, non-stop rain. I logged maybe 20 hours for the whole week. That’s less than half my usual take-home pay,” added Luis of Lapaz district.

Ronnel of Jaro said, “The project managers and the engineers? They get their full salary. They just move into the site office and keep working. But for us out on the scaffolding, rain means no pouring concrete, no welding, and no money. The rent and the rice still cost the same, though.”

“The pronounced sensitivity among precarious workers underscores the interaction between environmental shocks and labor market segmentation, with informal and casual workers bearing a disproportionate share of adjustment costs,” the study authors said.

Rainfall tends to reduce their working hours to a greater extent, highlighting how climate-related shocks disproportionately affect workers in informal and casual employment, who often have fewer employment protections and less stable sources of income.

“Rainfall-induced reductions in working time are therefore best understood not simply as temporary productivity losses but as manifestations of deeper labor market vulnerabilities linked to sectoral composition, employment informality, and geographic exposure,” the authors stressed.

To reduce these disruptions, the study recommends strengthening climate-responsive labor regulations, expanding flexible work arrangements where feasible, investing in flood-resilient transport and workplace infrastructure, and providing targeted social protection for workers in weather-sensitive occupations.