According to the authors, the fact that short men and obese women earn up to $ 1,000 less a year (about 853 euros) than tall and thin men is evidence of a long-standing “beauty premium” which suggests that physical attraction has a higher value in the job market. The researchers, led by Suyong Song of the University of Iowa (USA), analyzed data from 2,383 volunteers, including full-body scans and information on the participants’ family income and gender.
A significant relationship between physical appearance and income
Examination of the data revealed that for men who earned more than $ 70,000 a year (about $ 60,000), a one centimeter increase in height was worth $ 1,000 in additional annual income.
For women who earned the same amount, each decrease of one point in BMI (body mass index) was also equal to an additional $ 1,000 per year in salary, according to experts, who published their study in the journal PloS One.
The authors say this shows the importance of accurately measuring body shapes when it comes to creating public policies to mitigate discrimination and prejudice.
“Our findings also highlight the importance of correctly measuring body shapes to provide adequate public policies to improve health care and mitigate discrimination and prejudice in the job market,” the researchers explain.
Study limitations
There are limitations to this research as the data set only included household income rather than individual income, so other factors could influence the earnings disparity.
Referencia: Body shape matters: Evidence from machine learning on body shape-income relationship. Suyong Song , Stephen Baek . Published: July 30, 2021 PloS One. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254785
