How Your Weight May Affect Your Paycheck

Posted on Dec 13th 2010 3:00PM by That's Fit Editors

Weight Affects Paycheck Getty Images

If you want to earn more money, you might start by taking a critical look at what happens when you stand on the bathroom scale.

Men, you should gain weight.

Women, you need to lose it.

Why? The highest paid employees are heavy men and thin women.

That's the word from a University of Florida study of 20,000 German and American workers that specifically concluded the following:

• Women who weigh 25 pounds more than the group norm make $14,000 less than their average-size colleagues.
• Women who weigh 25 pounds less than the group norm make $16,000 more than their average-sized colleagues.
• Men who are considered thin make $9,000 less than their colleagues of average weight.
• For men, their paychecks increase with their weight -- all the way to obesity. The peak weight for high paychecks is 207 pounds.

Why does weight even matter when it comes to your salary? The study authors theorized that people who conform to others' ideas about the ideal body image may actually perform better on the job because they can wield more influence over other people and get more things accomplished.

Career expert Debra Shigley told CBS News, "I think women are judged by their appearance in the workplace. Women are expected to be thinner than men. The standards are a little more flexible for men."

--From the Editors at Netscape

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

chrissymo12590 12-14-2010 @ 3:14PM

That is discrimination period. Just like an employer is not allowed to ask you your age, if you have kids, if you are deaf, etc. They can not ask you "how much do you weigh?" If they do, you can sue them.

Laura 12-14-2010 @ 4:38PM

Welcome to the reality of my world. I've experienced this first hand ever since I entered the workforce back in 1984. In fact, I've even been fired by one boss who came out and said point blank that I was too fat to work for him. That I was an embarrassment to the company. It wasn't because of performance because I was the employee with the highest proficiency in the office for the 6th year running. It was because he didn't think it was good for business when customers came into the office that they were subjected to looking at my fat body. I've also applied for jobs that I was over qualified for and been passed up for thinner candidates that I've ended up having to train for the position. This kind of behavior is going to continue until weight discrimination is made illegal, which at the moment it is not in the general USA.

mike 12-14-2010 @ 5:55PM

Just goes to show that your bussness isn't yours in America. Can't ask this, can't ask that. No wonder jobs go over seas. Guess americans really don't want to work!

Gail 12-14-2010 @ 7:28PM

It's surprising Http://www.weightlossinfoguide.com can affect how you work.

R.E.W 12-14-2010 @ 3:02PM

RACISM BY SCALE IS ALL IT IS...............

Jessica 12-14-2010 @ 3:20PM

I am overweight but I do not eat more than others. In fact I often eat less therefore I don't clog sewers anymore than anyone else. Also I am pretty sure YOUR feces smells bad too. But if you got your head out your but and actually used your brain you would know not all fat people eat more. I was given terrible genes and many health problems. If you are one of those lucky enough not to have health problems and have never had an issue with being overweight then shut up!!!!!!! You have no idea wnat you are talking about.

JRD 12-14-2010 @ 3:25PM

Sorry, but my husband who is skinny clogs the toilet constantly, with his massive oversized feces. I think skinny people crap larger and more frequently, hence it doesn't go to waste (fat on the body) Just my own personal theory.

Denise 12-14-2010 @ 3:34PM

Bob you are a freaking A hole and I bet you weigh over 400lbs also.....LOL. Oh yeah and are full of that stuff that is in the toliet.

Sendai 12-14-2010 @ 4:24PM

We're descriminated as women because of our weight because we allow it! If we consider it descrimination to be judged on our weight ladies, then stop accepting it and threaten a lawsuit based on weight. You can't change anything if you just grouse about it.

I used to be fat, then skinny only because the weight affected my back, then when I wanted to donate plasma, I was too skinny. I had to gain. I also have a money problem called being penniless and for two months I had NO food. No one would give me any. No one would give me any rides since I now have no car. I went from 120 to 92 at only four foot nine. Oh I lost weight alright. I also nearly went insane. Hunger does that. I finally was able to slowly get money so I could eat. I went from 92 to 114 and it was a struggle. When I went to the ER for an ear infection and told my weight he acted like I was Anorexic!

I have this severe problem now. I eat and gain, then over night I lose not only what I gained but a little more. I can't keep weight on. Sometimes I lose my appetite all together, but it certainly isn't because of peer pressure.

I say be proud you're a fattie. You may come to a point where you run out of money and can't eat. I now appreciate food. And if someone ever wanted to descriminate because of my weight, well I guess I could make a pretty penny suing. Weight doesn't make you a better worker. It's all foolish programming and bigotry, just as it's bigotry when women are descriminated against because they're not pretty, belittled by men who hardly look like Mr. Universe nor make a living as a male model who have looks but nothing else going for them.

I say eat eat eat! Never underappreciate the fact theat food is available. If you're starving, as I found out the hard way, my body eating it's own fat kept me alive until I could afford to eat.

B 12-14-2010 @ 4:21PM

This says nothing about obesity. It says that BIGGER men get paid more and SMALLER women get paid less. It's a well known fact that short men don't get nearly the pay that tall men do, so a 5'4" guy is going to weigh a lot less than his 6'4" boss (who is also not even near overweight at 207 lbs).

So bind your girl's feet and make sure to starve them so they don't get very tall. It'll cost one heck of a lot less than sending them to college and the return will be oh so much greater!

b 12-14-2010 @ 4:22PM

Duh. Smaller women get paid MORE. Too pissed at the erroneous statistics to make sense. :-)

masked blogger 12-14-2010 @ 4:42PM

I have to laugh at the stupidity of of some people. They automatically assume that if you're overweight you eat like a pig. Too bad they weren't born with a lousy metabolism. My aunt eats like a horse, and weighs in at 115 pounds, if I ate the way she did, I'd weigh 500 pounds. My daily intake is between 1200 and 1400 calories a day, if I eat any more than that, I gain weight. So I have to watch every single thing I eat, I don't even know what it's like to actually eat dessert with a meal. So for all you idiots out there, who have no idea what metabolism is all about, SHUT UP until you actually have something semi-intelligent to say. Oh, and CheesyBob I sure hope when you get older your metabolism changes and you end up weighing 400 pounds. What goes around, comes around, you can pretty much count on it.

Tia 12-14-2010 @ 5:18PM

I don't think this is true for every large person. I always had really great high paying jobs and I was bigger than any of my friends. As a matter of fact, I made more money than anyone I knew except my husband. So large people can be talented, clean, pretty AND make decent money. By the time I was 22 I had a large savings in the bank, owned 2 homes and 3 cars. So this myth of large people don't make good money is UN TRUE!

waty19 12-14-2010 @ 5:18PM

You forgot to add the real problem with them. Health care. Being overweight adds so many health problems. If they aren't insured or if they are on medicare/caid our tax dollars pay for.

SlyBriFry 12-14-2010 @ 5:44PM

You're all missing the reason WHY this and articles like it are continually written. We are being conditioned to believe there is a weight epidemic in this country that we cannot solve ourselves.

The when the Federal Government steps in to save the day, telling us what we can and can not eat, we'll accept the loss of freedom with OPEN ARMS.

(They've done it too many times before for it to be called conspiracy anymore.)

Liz 12-14-2010 @ 5:51PM

This article (and perhaps, the study on which it is based) doesn't give us enough information to say that this is discrimination, or that larger men are viewed as more "powerful" and are therefore paid more. It does not show any causal connection between weight and salary, just a correlation.

My guess is that for most men, there is no causal connection, at least when it comes to the higher weight men... it's not that a man weighs more and then is thought to be more capable and is paid more. Instead, I think it has more to do with age and occupation. As men age, they tend to put on weight. As they age, they also tend to make more money... by their peak earning years, they're in late middle-age and are heavier. Also, high-stress white collar occupations tend to pay the most, and stress is a big factor in weight gain.

Of course, the same sorts of things, left unchecked, will happen to women, too. But I think weight gain is just more acceptable for men. Again, it's not that the weight gain leads to higher pay, but that it naturally goes hand-in-hand with aging (which is equated with higher incomes) and stress (prevalent in high-paying fields) and for men it's not usually looked upon as a terrible thing... in fact, it may be considered a sign that he's working hard.

For women, I do think there's probably more of a causal connection, though this study only showed a correlation, and not causation. Appearance does matter more for women. An obese woman, no matter how well-groomed, is usually looked upon as lazy and maybe stupid, while an obese man in a nice tailored suit is just a "fat cat" and that's okay. Thin, attractive women are thought to be smarter and more capable, and less lazy. So women have to work harder to fight against the effects of work stress and aging.

For the record, I'm a totally normal weight, and have never felt the pressure to be thin and attractive... I'm not some feminist activist. But I do think there is a double standard. Of course, we are talking in very general terms, and there are plenty of exceptions to these "rules". There are also no doubt a number of factors which come into play, none of which have been examined here. For instance, different fields pay dramatically different average salaries, and have dramatically different cultures. Lower-paying fields, which tend to be female-dominated, also often have a less judgmental and competitive culture, and no doubt, higher obesity rates. The highest-paying fields tend to require more training, and it takes a certain type of person with a certain kind of competitive drive to enter and succeed in these fields. Women in these fields tend to be competitive even with themselves... the kind who played sports in prep school and college, worked out rigorously through grad school, keep at it even while working. Of course these are big generalizations, but I am just saying this to touch on some issues which haven't been examined here in any way. It's not as clear-cut as this brief article would have you believe.

Fair and Balanced 12-14-2010 @ 5:53PM

Waty19 makes a good point. The health care costs attributable to overweight people is astronomical. I have to laugh at those who bring up the metabolism argument. Fat people have slow metabolism because they sit on their butts shoving twinkies into their faces all day. I am old and my metabolism is slower than it used to be. That's why I don't eat as much as I used to. No matter how fat you are, if you eat less you will lose weight. It's that simple.

Mike 12-14-2010 @ 5:57PM

Everthing is raceis in america, right! Well, I think your raceis!

Fair and Balanced 12-14-2010 @ 6:20PM

Sheila, it sounds like you have some real issues with men. Which came first, your problem with weight or your problem with men? Men do have sexual urges and if women want to benefit from those urges, they're more likely to do so by taking care of themselves instead of letting themselves go. There are men who have fat fetishes, maybe you ought to see if you can find one of them. Or, since you seem to dislike men, find yourself another fat chick to be with. But to criticize men for being attracted to women just demonstrates how bitter you are. No wonder you can't find one.

peggy fult438 12-14-2010 @ 6:40PM

good finally somebody see's this. fat people are slow take up to much space and look terrible and at times smell bad so there lose it it doesnt look good period

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