Labor Impacts of Climate Change
January 21, 2025

Construction workers in the United Arab Emirates where a midday break was enacted, limiting workers' exposure to direct sunlight in the harshest hours during the summer months. Courtesy of Sam.
MIT student Samira “Sam” Salwan recently completed the MCSC Climate & Sustainability Scholars Program, where they had the opportunity to combine their economics background with environmental justice to research the labor impacts of climate change. They worked with MIT professors Jacob Moscona and Benjamin Olken, who helped shape their research skills and encouraged them to think critically about economic questions.
One of the key takeaways of Sam’s research is the negative effect of heat exposure on the number of hours of heavy labor completed globally each year. To further examine the effects of heat stress on labor forces, Sam chose to address the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for their final project. Throughout the academic year, Sam explored effective practices for balancing safety, productivity, and equity. They drafted a policy memorandum outlining recommendations to foster resilience in the labor force against climate change, ensuring a more equitable and sustainable future. Sam’s two-pronged approach would embrace mid-day work breaks and a broader heat warning system. Their research highlights the critical intersection of climate change and labor forces, emphasizing the urgency of swift action.
To better understand Sam’s perspective, background, and process, we spoke with them about their experience as an MCSC Scholar. The following interview provides a view of their involvement in the year-long program.
What drew you to the MCSC Climate and Sustainability Scholars Program?
In my freshman year, I took a class on environmental justice that opened my eyes to the importance of addressing these issues and the extent to which economics provides a powerful framework to tackle them. The summer before the MCSC Climate and Sustainability Scholars Program started, I had the opportunity to intern at Brookings where I was working on a project which brought together some of the leading stakeholders across the sustainability space. I knew that this is something I wanted to dedicate more time to. As such, the program’s structure allowed me to dedicate a year to a compelling research project, especially alongside my peers who were at a similar stage in their education and shared a deep interest in research. The interdisciplinary nature of the program exposed me to new ways of thinking and technological innovations in sustainability, which I believe are crucial for the field of economics.
How does your research integrate social dimensions and policy?
Climate change will fundamentally alter how we structure our labor, affecting both time allocation and priorities. It is likely to increase the health costs associated with labor. The research project I worked on aims to identify optimal strategies for minimizing productivity losses by adjusting work hours and preparing governments, firms, and individuals to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Understanding the impacts of climate change on labor in order to allow for adaptive scheduling and climate-responsive policies cannot be understated.
What are you most proud of from your time as a Scholar?
I am particularly proud of improving my ability to communicate research effectively in order to reach a policy audience. The extent to which this was important was highlighted in the speaker presentations where almost every speaker emphasized the manner in which they either designed or communicated their research to fit the needs of their stakeholders. Through the year, I developed this skill by conducting interviews with stakeholders in various levels of the government, allowing me to understand how they respond to research and enhancing my communication skills.

"I am particularly proud of improving my ability to communicate research effectively in order to reach a policy audience."
What unique perspective do you bring to climate and sustainability research?
Having lived in a number of countries, my diverse background has provided me with a firsthand understanding of the unique environmental challenges and opportunities across different regions. I believe it’s essential to consider climate and sustainability from an international perspective. There is a significant gap in research on climate impacts in the Global South, and addressing this is crucial. I aim for my work to be able to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries, focusing on creating equitable solutions that consider the unique challenges faced by the Global South.
How has your major tied into your research?
Perhaps the most beautiful thing about economics to me is its ability to transform messy data and difficult-to-create experiments into a clear understanding of social cause and effect. A sharp understanding of the way in which numbers tell a story is vital in order to do that, and this is precisely the skillset my Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science major has allowed me to develop. The research project I worked on utilized ‘messy’ cell phone data to draw conclusions about the temperature’s impacts on labor patterns, showcasing the intersection of economics and data science in addressing real-world issues.
What are your future plans?
The MCSC Scholars Program has cemented my love for research, and I’m eager to continue this journey throughout and after graduate school. After graduating, I hope to spend a year in India conducting fieldwork and research. Following that, I aim to pursue a PhD in economics, focusing on development economics. I spent this past summer in Washington DC, interning at the World Bank which has heightened my optimism about the significant social impact economists can have. I look forward to carrying this value throughout my career.