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Weigh more, earn less

By Wiscombe, Janet
Publication: Workforce
Date: Friday, February 1 2002
IMAGE PHOTOGRAPH 2

Heavy white women earned an average of 7 percent less than slimmer women.

Heavyset white working women endure daily advertising barrages reminding them that thin is beautiful

and they are not. Now this: a new study conducted at Cornell University compares pounds to paychecks, and the conclusion isn't pretty.

Health-policy scholar and economist John Cawley found that the heavier white working women are, the less money they make. Women who weighed 65 pounds more than the norm in a sample of 1,442 white female workers earned an average of 7 percent less than their slimmer colleagues. That difference in income is roughly equivalent to the wage effect of one year of education, two years of continuous employment at one job, or three years of work experience, according to a university press release.

The same relationship between weight and income, however, didn't hold true for Hispanic and AfricanAmerican working women. Cawley found only weak evidence that overweight Hispanic women earn less, and no evidence that the wages of overweight black women are affected.

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