Highly attractive women earn 10% more, says a new Czech study

Prague, Oct 23 (CTK) – Highly attractive women’s salaries are one-tenth higher than the average even at similar education and competence levels, a low attractivity means a loss of 4 percent, according to a study presented by sociologist Petra Anyzova at a workshop based on a job market research project today.

Psychological research states that attractive people are more confident, efficient and emotionally stable as well as having better social and communication skills that they can then use to negotiate for a higher salary.

The study shows that men are able to achieve a slightly higher salary through extraversion and openness. On the other hand, the salaries of people with a higher average measure of neuroticism are usually 9 percent lower than the average.

For women, a higher salary usually results from higher conscientiousness. More extraversion or openness usually means a lower salary on average.

Anyzova said that the results are similar to the findings of other studies and the trend suggests that men are disadvantaged if they display more feminine traits and women are disadvantages if they display more masculine traits.

In the case of men, the impact of physical attractiveness on being able to secure a higher socio-economic status is significant. In the competition for good jobs, competence as well as attractivity seems to be advantageous for men rather than women. For women, the impact of competence and attractivity is reversed when it comes to income.

For women, the socio-economic status of their work increases according to their confidence and work motivation. The more confident and motivated they are, the higher the status of their work at the same level of education and competence.

A similar effect for women can be detected with high openness to change (creativity and independence), Anyzova added.