The weight-wage penalty is back and bigger than ever.
It affects men as well as women (although it still affects women more than men) - and the more educated (in higher earning careers) more than others.
Not a great look for society - shows us up for our biases.
And it certainly reinforces the appeal - and ROI - of weight loss drugs.
But can you really fix this with anti-obesity-discrimination laws? (If so how to enforce without gross violations of personal privacy and dignity??) Or is this more of a values issue?
Do you really want employers filling our weight diversity scorecards? (That means they will have to weigh *you* up too! - they actually did that in Japan, made employers weigh staff and fined the companies if their employees didn’t meet government maximum BMI guidelines).
Is the wage-weight penalty all about employer / client discrimination and bias or are there other conflating societal norms and factors here worth addressing too?
Will anti-discrimination laws inadvertently encourage unhealthy habits?
Why do the rich discriminate on looks more than the poor?
Let us know.
Read more :
Bigger than ever : https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/11/23/the-obesity-pay-gap-is-worse-than-previously-thought
Should companies pay for employees weight loss? https://www.businessinsider.com/ozempic-wegovy-cost-could-put-companies-out-of-business-blackstone-2023-10?amp
Big in Japan : https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/obesity-crisis-japan-office-fitness-tests-75kfz2kzp#:~:text=40%20and%2074.-,If%20people%20do%20not%20meet%20standard%20guidelines%20for%20waist%20size,participation%20rates%20among%20their%20workers.
Weighty issues