Heat stress from global warming may be having an impact on outdoor work productivity in hot regions around the world like northern Australia, Southeast Asia and the southern US, a study revealed Sunday.

In recent decades, rising temperatures and higher humidity reduced labor capacity, on paper at least, by 10 percent during the hottest months, it says.

And by 2050, labor capacity – the ability to maintain efficiency in outdoor work – could fall by 20 percent, it warns.

Farmworkers, construction laborers and the military are among the sectors most exposed to hotter, steamier conditions.

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, uses a computer model that simulates warming and a rise in humidity and their impact on strenuous outdoor activity.

AFP