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Beauty and the Labor Market

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Beauty and the Labor Market
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The article “Beauty and the Labor Market” by Daniel S. Hamermesh and Jeff E. Biddle examines the economics of discrimination in the labour market based on looks and the relationship that exists between beauty and labour market earnings. Analyzing, results from several studies, data from various empirical research and surveys; the article identifies the source of earnings differentials related to looks in six distinct and detailed sections. The first section addresses the question of whether it is possible to use measures of beauty to analyze the role of looks in the labour market. Since, it would be futile to examine the effect of beauty on employment if there is no mutual agreement on what defines beauty. Using data from various studies and a Canadian survey this section concludes that world standards of beauty are mutually agreed upon and stable over one’s working life. Section two outlines three possible reasons for earning differentials related to looks in the labour market: pure employer discrimination originating from employers distaste for unattractive workers, customer/productivity discrimination resulting from earning differentials only in occupations where attractiveness is productive, and occupational crowding that is sorting into particular occupations associated with physical appearance. Section three describes the three microeconomic data, two American and one Canadian survey, used to calculate hourly earnings and to analyze the role of looks on workers earning while holding constant various demographic and labor-market characteristics. All the three surveys contain interviewers' ratings of the respondents' physical appearance on a five-point scale. Section four tests the presence of earning differential based on looks initially by presenting estimates of standard earnings equations and then synthesizing the findings to conclude that better-looking people receive higher wages, while bad-looking people earn less than average looking
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