What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to understand how different occupations affect the risk of temperature-related mortality in Mexico.

January 15, 2026The Journal of Human Resources0 citationsOpen Access

Occupation and temperature-related mortality in Mexico

RBR. Daniel Bressler APAnna PappCenter For Policy Research LSLuis SarmientoBank of Mexico

Key Points

The aim is to understand how different occupations affect the risk of temperature-related mortality in Mexico.
Analyzed nationwide death data and weather data over decades
Compared mortality risk by occupation, particularly focusing on young adults
Evaluated differences in mortality related to both high temperatures and cold exposures
Young agricultural workers (15-24 years) face over 10 times the heat mortality risk compared to professional/managerial peers
Older non-workers are more susceptible to cold-related mortality
Results indicate a need for occupational safety and adaptation policies to protect at-risk workers

Abstract

We investigate how occupation influences temperature-related mortality in Mexico. Using decades of nationwide death and weather data, we find that temperature-related mortality risk varies sharply by occupation. Young adults in climate-exposed jobs experience significantly higher heat risk: a 15-24-year-old agricultural worker is over 10 × more likely to die from heat than an age-group peer in professional/managerial employment. Cold temperatures also increase mortality, especially for older non-workers. Our results suggest that occupational safety and adaptation policies may protect vulnerable workers from death and that ongoing economic shifts away from exposed sectors may moderate future heat-related mortality. This open access article is distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 ) and is freely available online at: http://le.uwpress.org

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