"Our result contradicts the widespread assumption that attractiveness can be a disadvantage in a job that is atypical for the respective gender," says sociologist and study author Prof Dr Reinhard Schunck from the University of Wuppertal. This assumption is based on the assumption that attractive people are perceived as gender-typical and are ascribed corresponding characteristics that may not fit the role patterns they have learnt in the world of work - as a result, they would not be trusted to perform the atypical job. However, Schunck and his team found: "Attractive women in male-dominated professions or attractive men in female-dominated professions do not earn less - on the contrary: the positive effect of attractiveness remains stable."

About the study

The study by Reinhard Schunck, Johanna Gereke and Emily Hellriegel investigates the extent to which physical attractiveness affects income. The data for the study comes from the German Family Panel (pairfam), a representative long-term study that follows the lives of over 12,000 people in Germany over several years. The processed and anonymised data is available to the specialist public for scientific analyses. It includes information on income and occupation as well as extensive socio-demographic information such as age, gender and level of education. In addition, the interviewers rate the participants' appearance on a scale from "very attractive" to "less attractive". The information from the panel was linked to official occupational statistics from the Federal Employment Agency on the extent to which an occupation is dominated by men or women.

The methodological approach is special: To ensure that the result does not depend on the decision in favour of a particular analysis model, the researchers carried out a so-called multiverse analysis. They calculated 6,912 different models to determine the correlation between attractiveness and salary. The results were very robust. "We wanted to show how stable the so-called beauty effect actually is: attractive people earn slightly more, regardless of their profession," explains co-author Dr Johanna Gereke from the University of Mannheim and the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) in Wiesbaden.

Key findings

• Attractive women and men earn on average 2-5 per cent more per hour.
• These effects persist even when numerous influencing factors such as age, education, professional experience, working hours and health are taken into account.
• There is no indication that attractive people in gender-atypical occupations are paid less.

The study provides further evidence that physical attractiveness is a measurable economic dimension on the German labour market. It thus expands the literature on social differences based on appearance. "Beauty may seem superficial, but it can have real consequences," says Reinhard Schunck. "Our results show that social perceptions of attractiveness can create lasting inequalities in the labour market - even in a highly regulated labour market like the German one, which offers less discretion for employers when setting wages compared to other countries." In this way, the researchers also expand on previous research, which was predominantly conducted in countries with comparatively less regulated labour markets.

The results call into question previous assumptions about the role of physical attractiveness in gender-atypical occupations. "They underline the need for further research into the interplay between physical appearance, gender norms and labour market outcomes," emphasises Emily Hellriegel.