Fat white women earn seventeen percent less than BMI compliant women.
Economists Susan Averett and Sanders Korenman studied the effects of obesity on wages, using a sample consisting of individuals aged 16-24 in 1981 who were 23-31 in 1988. They showed that women who were obese according to their Body Mass Index (BMI) in both 1981 and 1988 earned 17 percent lower wages on average than women within their recommended BMI range. However, women who became obese between those two survey years earned only slightly less than women of recommended BMI. When comparing by race, the authors found a wage penalty for obesity among white women but no significant penalty for black women. Among white men, they found a much lower wage penalty for obesity than for their white female counterparts. A small positive relationship was actually found between obese black men and wages.
In a similar study, economist John Cawley found that the only group for which weight consistently lowered wages is white females.3 His results show that for a typical white woman weighing 64 pounds more than an otherwise-similar white female of average weight, the former’s wage will be about 9 percent lower.
Well, everyone knows the fat goes to our brains and impedes mental functions.
