Obese workers’ pay lower due to health costs, Stanford study finds

Studies have consistently shown that obese employees are paid less than normal-weight employees doing similar jobs, leading many people to attribute the gap to prejudice against workers based on their appearance.

But new research from Stanford University health economists adds another wrinkle to understanding these pay differentials: obese workers are paid less only when they have employer-sponsored health insurance.

These findings, just published in a working paper on the Web site of the National Bureau of Economic Research, suggest that employers-recognizing that obese workers are likely to have higher medical costs-compensate with lower pay for them. Given that employment-based health insurance requires that employees in the same plan make the same contributions to premiums, the employers adjust wages to account for the greater expense for obese workers’ health care, according to the paper.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 9 May 2005
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