The U.S. Census Bureau and the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Partnership in collaboration with the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) and the Labor Market Information (LMI) Institute, welcomes Mark Kutzbach as he presents, “Storms and Jobs: The Effect of Hurricanes on Individuals’ Employment and Earnings over the Long Term.”  

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005.  This presentation examines effects on the earnings of affected workers over the short and long term using job-level data to compare the evolution of earnings for affected workers in four states with workers from matched control counties. Short-term earnings losses are attributed 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 pre-storm industry, with larger gains for workers in sectors related to rebuilding.