The Korean Journal of Economic Studies
Study on the Impact of Weather on Time Use
Yong-Kwan Lee(Korea Culture & Tourism Institute)Year 2012Vol. 60No. 4
Abstract
This purpose of this study is two-fold: the first is to analyze the impacts ofweather on working men and women’s time use, the second is to estimateintertemporal substitution of labor in which the enjoyment of leisure is afunction of the weather. Using Korea Time Use Survey data for 1999, 2004,and 2009 matched with weather reports, the impact of a rainy day on the timespent in work and leisure was examined. This study finds that men work 22minutes less and have an average of 15 minutes more leisure on rainy days.The findings for women show the same pattern, but variation is smaller. Thiseffect varies greatly by cohorts and employment types, with 40s andself-employed showing the largest variation. I estimated intertemporalsubstitution of labor using exogenous variations in daily weather to see howtime at work varies with rain. A rough estimate of the intertemporal elasticityof labor supply for men was computed, with a result of about -0.0055, whichis extremely minimal.