Smokers who are looking for a job may want to give up the vice now because recent study says that they may stay unemployed if they will not. Researchers also suggest that if by chance they managed to get a job, it is likely that they will earn less compared to employees who do not smoke.
The findings were published on the Journal of American Medical Association and it highlighted the fact that aside from being bad for health, smoking can negatively affect the person's capacity to earn too.
"The health harms of smoking have been established for over 50 years, and now evidence is accumulating that smoking can hurt your success in the workforce and perhaps even lower your pay," lead researcher Judith J. Prochaska said.
About 251 unemployed individuals were observed by the researchers for two years and it was recorded that after a year, almost 56 percent of the non-smokers were able to get jobs while only 27 percent from the smoker's group have succeeded. In addition, the research shows that non-smokers earn $5 more per hour.
On April 11, via press release posted on Stanford Medicine news center, Prochaska explained the possible reasons for the employment difference between smokers and non-smokers. She said that based on their observation, they saw that smokers tend to put more priority and spend more on cigarettes than on things that would help them with their job search.
For instance, the researcher mentioned that rather than putting money on buying neat clothes or grooming, to make good impressions when applying for a job, smokers would rather use money to keep their supply of cigarettes. Prochaska further said that another possible reason is that smokers usually have more sick leave days and they tend to get distracted while doing their job in the workplace.
Carol Fenner, the Prevention Supervisor at the Wicomico County Health Department, said that "It's pretty much a known fact that a lot of smokers have more medical problems than non-smokers," and for this reason, they get sick more often.
At any rate, Prochaska and her team are now conducting a new study to know whether quitting the habit of smoking can help smokers to find a job. Finally, the research will also test if the person who gives up smoking can now get the same benefits as with the non-smokers.
Watch the video to see how smoking can affect employment: