The Beauty Premium

More than one in five think they would get ignored for a promotion, and 37 percent think management would think they didn’t take care of themselves.

The Above quote comes from the Daily Mail, admittedly, hardly a reliable news source, but there is a comment on this I wish to make:

In 1994 Hamermesh and Biddle came up with what is now known as “The beauty premium” Having analysed the income of employees in a variety of different industries and compared this to their supposed attractiveness, they declared that attractive employees were the receivers of a 5% income bump, they also identified a 9% plainness penalty for the plain janes and joes among us.

Of course within this there is still a gender gap. Handsome or attractive male employers received a 5% income bump whereas attractive female employers on average only received a 4% income bump.

If you take into consideration existing gender wage gaps it means that the most attractive female employees receive the same level of income as their average or homely male co-workers.

A good looking male is likely to make a quarter of a million more then his less attractive co-workers.

A survey conducted last year revealed that most recruitment managers believe that people in search of employment need to invest money in their appearance.

61% of those surveyed claimed that it would be advantageous for a women to wear clothing that revealed her figure in the workplace.

However this is a double edged sword for women. Surveys conducted in 2008 revealed that office workers, male and female alike would view a female employer as more likable if she wore visible make up in the workplace but also that it would detract from her perceived competence. 47% of the recruitment specialist surveys above also believed that it is possible for a woman to be penalised for being too good-looking

The reason why I’m talking about only about women when discussing the beauty premium is because men don’t hit this same invisible wall, this beauty ceiling that women do, for women there is a beauty backlash.

The looks of a candidate when applying for a job are often ranked more important then education by these same recruitment specialists.

I guess it’s true, high school never ends kids.