Is life better for beautiful people?
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In many ways, yes: “beautiful people are likely to be happier, earn more money, get a bank loan with a lower interest rate and marry a good-looking and highly educated spouse.”
From a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald covering the new book Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful by noted economist Daniel Hamermesh:
In his book, Hamermesh concludes that better-looking employees are more productive, leading to higher sales and potentially higher profit.
The book also shows how society generates premium pay for beauty and penalties for ugliness. Hamermesh says beautiful people earn $US230,000 more in a lifetime than workers with below-average looks. He said that figure is an estimate based on an average salary of $US20 an hour in 2010.
The earnings disparity is greater when broken down by gender. Beautiful women earn four per cent more and handsome men earn three per cent more than their average-looking counterparts.
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