Tall people 'earn more'

MELBOURNE: It seems that height does matter when it comes to the size of the pay packet, at least. A new study by the Australian National University has revealed that the taller one is, the more is one's chances of earning, but being overweight or obese won't affect one's pay package to any extent.

“Using data from a nationally representative sample of Australian adults, we found that taller people earn more, with the effect being strongest for men. For example, the average man in our sample is 5 feet 10 inches tall. Our estimates suggest that if he was 6 feet tall, he would earn another 1.5 per cent, or around $950 per year”.

“The wage gain from another 2 inches of height is approximately equal to wage gain from one more year of labour market experience. This result holds constant across a number of other factors that also affect wages, such as age, race, family background, experience, and education”.

“However, we found that the effect of height on women’s wages was smaller than for men, and not statistically significant,” lead researcher Professor Mr Andrew Leigh said