Effects of natural disasters on
displaced workers
i-Rec Conference 2017
Dr (Alice) Yan Chang-Richards
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The University of Auckland
Background
Lessons learned from past
events
Economy
Disaster event
Indonesia
Indian Ocean tsunami, 2004
Losses and repair GDP%
cost (US$)
4.45 billion
2.3%
U.S.
Hurricane Katrina, 2005
125 billion
1.2%
China
Wenchuan Earthquake, 2008
150 billion
1-3%
Chile
Chilean earthquake & tsunami, 2010
30 billion
17-20%
Australia
Queensland floods, 2010-2011
20 billion
1.5%
New Zealand Canterbury earthquakes, 2010 and 2011
40 billion
19%
Japan
200 billion
2.5-3%
Great East Japan earthquake and
tsunami, 2011
Job displacement: A
recurrent theme of disasters
Economy
Displaced
Indonesia
Affected
population
1 million
811,409
81%
600,000
60%
U.S.
2.5 million
1 million
40%
400,000
16%
China
46 million
40 million
87%
10 million
22%
Chile
2.5 million
800,000
32%
15,000
6%
Australia
200,000
150,000
75%
5,000
2.5%
New Zealand 460,000
9,200
2%
26,800
5.8%
Japan
383,000
841,000 jobs
affected
21%
4 million
Displacement
9.6%
job losses
Job loss %
Workforce policy strategies
in development
Agency
World
Bank
Priorities of workforce strategies
• Social safety nets
• Social insurance
• Labour market programmes
Context
Crisis
UN
• Job creation
• Re-integration of workforce into livelihood
Post-conflict
ILO
• Quality of jobs (decent work)
• Promotion of skills (training and education,
capital assistance to SMEs and selfemployed)
• Social protection
• Social protection – especially for the most
vulnerable (youth, low-skilled and immigrants)
• Up-skilling and labour productivity
General labour employment
support & post-disaster
• Skills promotion
• Job creation
• Social safety nets
General labour employment
policy & new projects looking at
sound workforce strategies in
disaster settings
OECD
APEC
General labour employment
policy & new projects looking at
effects of disasters on displaced
workers
Research objectives
This research aims to investigate the patterns of impact
that disasters have on the workforce, and the
employment and livelihood issues that emerge during
post-disaster recovery.
Practical outcome: To assist decision
makers in developing policy settings
and measures to support
employment and social cohesion in
disaster circumstances, thereby
sustaining the capacity for livelihood
recovery.
Job
Housing
Family
Livelihood
Research Methodology
Comparative case
study approach
Case study 1: the 2010 and 2011
Queensland floods in Australia
Case study 2: the 2010 and 2011
Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand
•
Pre-disaster labour
market conditions
•
Characteristics of the
natural disaster
event
•
Impacts of the event
on the labour
market/workforce
Case study 3: the 2011 Great East Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan
Case study 4: the June 2013 Southern
Alberta floods in Canada
Case study 5: the 2008 Wenchuan
earthquake in China
Case studies
Disaster impacts
Country
When
Australia
November
2010 to
January 2011
New Zealand Japan
4 September 11 March
2010 and 22
2011
February 2011
China
12 May 2008
Canada
June 2013
Event
Floods
Earthquake
Earthquake
Floods
Population
affected
200,000
460,000
Earthquake
and tsunami
400,000 most
directly
affected
46 million
100,000 in
Southern
Alberta
% of
regional
population
Human
losses
Damage
estimates
4.4%
81.3%
4.3%
52.5%
2.5%
36
185
15,883
69,227
4
AUD 15.7
billion
NZD 40 billion JPY 16.9
trillion
RMB 845
billion
CAD 500
million
Source: (Parker & Steenkamp, 2012), (Parkatti, 2013) and case study data
Affected sectors/industries
Employment annual % change in Canterbury,
New Zealand, September 2011
Sectors that were most
affected by disasters
Education
Tourism &
hospitality
Tourism and hospitality
Retail trade
Construction
Retail trade
Manufacturing
Food services
Agriculture, acquculture
-40.00%
Manufacturing
Sectors
Agriculture
Tourism
Aquaculture &
fishery
SMEs
-30.00%
-20.00%
U.S.
Indonesia
-10.00%
New
Zealand
0.00%
Chile
Hospitality
*
*
*
*
Retailing
*
*
*
*
*
Education
Agriculture
*
Aquaculture
*
Manufacturing
*
10.00%
China
30.00%
Japan
Australia
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
20.00%
*
Recurring workforce issues
 Job and worker displacement
 Loss of income
 Disruptions to workers’ livelihoods
 Creating additional participation barriers
women
youth
4th September
earthquake 2010
22nd February
earthquake 2011
Other Vulnerable:
disabled, low-skilled
Implications – areas of focus
Challenges
Areas of focus
Vulnerable sectors
Help disaster impacted areas to build systems
for business continuity planning and social
protection appropriate to capacity and context
Participation barriers for
workers
Strengthen focus on understanding the barriers
for workforce to labour force participation &
productivity enhancement
Skills gap
A continued investment in skills development
and knowledge building, including sharing
relevant good practice in case study countries
Weak link to the effects of
displacement
Emphasize a systems approach to understand
the ripple effects of displacement on workers
and their families as a goal of emergency
preparedness when designing labour market
programs
Thank You!
Acknowledgement
This research was funded by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) Secretariat (Project: Building Natural Disaster Response Capacity:
Sound Workforce Strategies for Recovery and Reconstruction, Project
Number: HRD 01/2012A). Authors would like to thank officials from the
Governments in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and China for
assisting with collection of case study data.
Further questions or discussion, please contact
Dr Alice Chang-Richards
Email: [email protected]