{
  "id": 12036614,
  "title": "Protecting workers, livelihoods from El Niño’s fallout",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/protecting-workers-livelihoods-from-el-ninos-fallout-12036614",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-02T04:11:11.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Jakarta Post Academia",
    "slug": "the-jakarta-post-academia",
    "url": "https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2026/10/02/protecting-workers-livelihoods-from-el-nios-fallout.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "El Niño, a climate phenomenon, is causing significant disruptions across Asia and the Pacific, affecting workers and their livelihoods. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported that El Niño is robust and expected to intensify, persisting through early 2027.\n\nThe effects of El Niño vary across regions, but shifts in rainfall, higher temperatures, droughts, floods, and other extreme conditions can have severe consequences for economies and societies. For millions of workers and their families, the immediate concerns are whether they will maintain sufficient work and if their earnings will decrease as food and other necessities become pricier.\n\nEl Niño is not merely a weather event; it also acts as an employment and income shock. Drought, extreme heat, floods, and water shortages can lead to reduced production and disruptions in businesses. This may result in fewer working days, shorter shifts, and less work.\n\nCertain sectors are particularly vulnerable to El Niño's impact. Agriculture suffers from droughts, irregular rainfall, water shortages, and extreme heat, leading to lower harvests, fewer working days, and reduced earnings. Fisheries and aquaculture also face risks due to warmer oceans affecting fish stocks, which in turn affect processors, traders, and other workers along the value chain. Construction workers may experience fewer work hours when extreme heat makes outdoor work unsafe. Transport, logistics, and tourism can be disrupted by floods, damaged infrastructure, or extreme heat.\n\nMoreover, El Niño does not affect everyone equally. Some sectors are more exposed to its impacts, such as agriculture, fisheries, and urban informal economy workers like street vendors, delivery riders, waste pickers, and domestic workers. These workers may lose working hours due to extreme heat or disruptions to their work environments.",
  "summary": "Across Asia and the Pacific, El Niño’s effects can quickly reach workplaces, household budgets and local economies, hitting vulnerable workers, particularly those in the informal economy. Protecting their livelihoods will require an integrated approach linking climate preparedness with social protection and sound macroeconomic policies.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Jakarta Post",
        "title": "Protecting workers, livelihoods from El Niño’s fallout",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/protecting-workers-livelihoods-from-el-ninos-fallout",
        "published": "2026-10-02T04:11:11.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}