High flyers: tall people earn more?

Image by Nathan T. Baker via Flickr

Apparently tall men earn significantly more than their shorter colleagues.

That’s according to the latest research from Australia, which found that each extra 2 inches of height can equate to a boost of nearly €800 a year in annual salary – or the equivalent of an extra year of experience. So, a man who’s 6ft tall can expect to earn about 1.5% more, on average, than his 5ft 10ins colleague. The phenomenon isn’t as pronounced in women, however, who need to tower at least 4 inches over their colleagues to see a similar earnings hike.

The study of nearly 7,000 Australian workers by the Australian National University echoes results from earlier studies in Britain and the US, which also showed compelling evidence that taller workers command higher salaries.

Professor Andrew Leigh, who led the Australian study, suggests that the most likely explanation is that taller people tend to commanded more respect in the workplace, and that subconsciously there may be positive discrimination in their favour.

"Perhaps this has to do with status," he said, "Having greater respect for taller people might be inadvertently leading to higher wages. Or perhaps it is because of discrimination, with shorter people getting the same treatment in the labour market as women and minorities have experienced in the past." Another possible explanation is that taller boys may tend to be more confident, with height affecting things like participation in sports clubs and athletics, and those confidence-boosting activities in youth could translate into increased earning potential in later life.

But is it really true?

The Australian findings are, by all accounts, statistically significant, and are backed up by earlier studies that found an even more pronounced correlation between earnings and height. While there are many individual exceptions, and it’s unlikely your taller colleague in the next cubicle is earning significantly more than you just because of his height, if you take two large groups of people, similar in every respect other than height, the taller group will, on average, earn significantly more than their shorter contemporaries.

"The truth is, tall people do make more money. They make US$789 more per inch per year," says Arianne Cohen, author of "The Tall Book" (Bloomsbury USA, June, 2009).

Standing at just under 5ft 11in, Professor Leigh said it was unfortunate that society seemed to be biased towards taller people, but said that, for now at least, there was very little short people could do about it. "At the moment they can only try and stand on a box," he quipped.

Some very notable exceptions to the "tall people earn more" trend are Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both of whom have held the title of "world’s richest man", and both measuring a very average 5ft 10in tall, proving that, while it may help, height certainly isn’t everything when it comes to amassing your personal fortune.

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