Johnny Wilkens, an economics major, is researching the economic impacts of wildfires on employment in the Western U.S. His senior thesis addresses a gap in studies focused on job losses and broader economic indicators, using over 100,000 observations from employment and wildfire data spanning 2000 to 2022. He found that severe wildfires cause a two-percent drop in employment growth, particularly affecting the leisure and hospitality sectors, while other industries show little impact.
Inspired by a course on wildfires, Wilkens emphasizes the human and environmental toll of these disasters. His findings suggest that while federal aid helps, there’s potential for more targeted support, especially for tourism economies and workforce retraining. After graduation, he aims to work in climate and sustainability consulting to better prepare communities for wildfire consequences. Outside academics, he is involved in jazz music and fire arts. Wilkens sees wildfires as a critical challenge for the future, stressing the need to develop effective strategies for dealing with their consequences.
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