Tokyo Average Temperature vs US Annual Working Hours per Worker

Tokyo Average Temperature and US Annual Working Hours per Worker correlate at r = -0.42 over 64 years (1960–2023), p = 5.1e-4. With the time trend removed, r = +0.38. Direction flips without the trend.

Verdict: Direction flips without the trend. The raw correlation is -0.42, but once each series' time trend is removed it becomes 0.38. The year-to-year movements run the opposite way to the long-run trends, so the headline number is misleading.

Pearson r: -0.42
p-value: 5.1e-4
Years compared (n): 64 (1960–2023)
95% confidence interval: -0.61 to -0.20
Correlation with the time trend removed: +0.38

Sources

Tokyo Average Temperature (°C): Open-Meteo (ERA5). Annual mean 2m air temperature for Tokyo from the ERA5 reanalysis.
US Annual Working Hours per Worker (hours): Our World in Data. US Annual Working Hours per Worker (Our World in Data: Working hours per worker).

Related pairs

US Annual Working Hours per Worker vs US Health Expenditure (r = -0.89)
US Annual Working Hours per Worker vs US Infant Mortality (r = +0.89)
US Annual Working Hours per Worker vs Worldwide Major Earthquakes (M5+) (r = -0.89)
US Annual Working Hours per Worker vs US Life Expectancy (r = -0.87)
US Fertility Rate vs US Annual Working Hours per Worker (r = +0.87)
Tokyo Average Temperature vs Atmospheric Methane (global) (r = +0.86)

Correlation does not imply causation. How the verdict is worked out.