Do You Make Less Money Than Your Taller Peers?

A recent study at the University of Florida found that over the span of their careers short people earn less money than their taller counterparts. In terms of cold hard cash, each extra inch in height equals roughly $800 difference in annual pay. So, essentially a person standing at 5 ft 8 inches tall will make about $9600 less annually than someone standing at 6 ft 8 inches tall. It's surprise that in this post-modern era our incomes are influenced so strongly by our physical statures. The figure of $9600 per year, in the example above, should be a stark enough example of this - but the practice seems even more unsettling when multiplied over a career spanning 30 years. Just by being a foot shorter than your peers, you are likely to earn $288,000 less over 30 years than they do. You would think that in an 'enlightened era,' such as the one in which we live, that payscale would be based on individual and team results rather than physical height characteristics. Unfortunately the study shows otherwise. So, what are we to do? Should we form an affirmative action group to pursue the correction of these practices? It