Height & Income
A new study by Andrew Leigh (”Does Size Matter in Australia?” — .pdf file here) examined health and income data from almost 20,000 Australians and found that for men each additional 20 centimeters (4 inches) of height was correlated with an additional 3% in hourly wages.
The “height premium” was 2% per 10 cms for women.
For men, every 5 cms (2 inches) above the average height of 178cms (5 feet 10 inches) was correlated with an increase equivalent to that of an extra year’s experience in the labor force.
This result held constant across factors such as age, race, family background, experience and education. In contrast to other studies, being overweight did not appear to decrease earnings.