The pandemic has hit both the US and Southern California economies hard. No fewer than 9 million jobs were lost nationwide in 2020. We’re all looking forward to putting COVID-19 behind us and getting our economy back where it belongs. People are looking for an advantage to help them keep the job they have, improve their income, and get the job they ultimately want.
Many took wise advantage of working at home to upgrade their appearance. Many more are considering doing the same thing. If you are, you may wonder, “Is the facelift price a good economic investment? Will improving my appearance help me earn more?” “If I’m still working, is the facelift price in Inland Empire worth paying?”
Do attractive people have an advantage on the job?
Starting in the 1970s, research revealed that better-looking people do better economically. Harvard Business Review discussed what years of studies have uncovered:
As a comprehensive academic review summarized: “Physically attractive individuals are more likely to be interviewed for jobs and hired, they are more likely to advance rapidly in their careers through frequent promotions, and they earn higher wages than unattractive individuals.”
In “Why it Pays to Be Attractive,” US News and World Report reached a similar conclusion:
A number of studies examining the relationship between beauty and money show that more attractive people earn higher incomes and work more productively and profitably for their companies, obtain more loan approvals, and negotiate loans with better terms than their less-attractive counterparts.
Clearly, good-looking workers enjoy some real benefits on the job. Can being attractive also help you get into college, get hired, and stay working?
Good looking students get accepted
The career advantages of attractiveness begin by improving your chances of getting accepted into the college of your choice. Harvard Business Review reports:
A pro-attractiveness bias already exists in education, with studies showing that physically attractive students tend to obtain higher grades at university, partly because they are deemed more conscientious and intelligent, even when they are not.
Furthermore, attractiveness already helps students get into universities in the first place, by eliciting more favorable evaluations during college admissions interviews.
The “beauty bias” starts working during the college interview process. And once you’re in school, professors view better-looking students as better-performing students and give them better grades then they may actually deserve. This unfair advantage persists after graduation.
Good-looking people get more interviews and job offers
Forbes, a well-respected business magazine, spoke about research on the effect your appearance has on getting a job interview:
In an experimental study, researchers sent 11,000 CVs [resumes] to various job openings, including identical CVs accompanied by candidate photographs of different levels of attractiveness. Attractive women and men were much more likely to get a call back for an interview than unattractive (or no-photograph) candidates were.
Studies consistently show that attractive women and good-looking men have an edge in getting hired, getting paid more, and getting promoted. They earn substantially more for their whole working lives. Unfortunately, people who are not particularly attractive can earn far less than they probably deserve.
Unattractive people face discrimination and lower pay
While attractive people receive many advantages, the disadvantage suffered by unattractive people is far greater. This is not fair, because studies that uncovered this pay discrepancy based on looks found that people’s attractiveness had no impact on their intelligence or abilities. The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, for example, assessed the impact of men’s facial attractiveness on their earnings. Researcher John Scholz, now Provost at the University of Wisconsin, stated:
The attractiveness premium does not appear to result from greater cognitive ability, high school class rank, or greater educational attainment of attractive men…It appears, then, that attractiveness is a characteristic that is directly rewarded in the labor market.
Scholz and his colleagues had a panel rank over 10,000 men for attractiveness based on their high school yearbook photos. Then they examined their incomes at 30 and 50 years of age. They found:
There is a durable, persistent, and economically large correlation between the facial attractiveness of men, as measured by their high school yearbook photos and their earnings in the mid-30s and their 50s.
Some men in this study earned more, not because they were smarter or better educated than others. But their faces were more handsome. And they were paid more because of it. That’s unfair, but what’s worse is the fact that unattractive workers received far less than they probably deserved.
Economists Daniel Hamermesh and Jeff Biddle examined three research studies on the effect attractiveness had on income. As reported in Forbes, they found that handsome men made 5% more than men rated average in looks. Those considered “quite plain” or “homely” made 9% less than average-looking men. They found a less severe but similar effect on women.
Forbes also reported that studies find workers whose looks were rated lower than average are not only less likely to get hired but more likely to get fired. Since researchers have already determined that good-looking workers are no more attractive or capable, many wonder why.
Why do good-looking people have such an edge?
Scientists and researchers have explored the reason why people with attractive faces, in particular, have such an advantage over unattractive people. Harvard Business Review talks about the Halo Effect, where:
Attractive people are generally perceived as being more sociable, healthy, successful, honest, and talented.
Researchers find that a wide spectrum of people, including children, unconsciously assume that attractive people have these good qualities and that homely people do not. Good-looking people are automatically believed to be better students, better workers, and better candidates for promotion. They are paid accordingly.
This is neither fair nor accurate. But fighting it is like trying to prevent the sun from setting.
Why many consider the facelift price a good investment
“Lookism,” as the advantage of an attractive face and the disadvantage of an unattractive face is called, is a fact of life. Why not have it work for you rather than against you?
Is the better chance of getting hired and promoted, along with the increased pay, worth the facelift cost in the Inland Empire and throughout Southern California? If your job involves the public, like sales, reporting the news, or entertainment, it clearly seems a good investment. A facelift, for instance, in this region ranges from $7,000 to $15,000, depending on the surgeon and the extent of your facial aging.
Surgeons in more expensive areas like Beverly Hills and New York City cost more. There are highly competent facial plastic surgeons in the Inland Empire and across the country whose unusual level of experience allows them to work more efficiently and provide outstanding results at a lower facelift price.
Of course, studies regularly find that attractive people, including facelift patients, enjoy more self-confidence and greater popularity. If your good looks are fading, the benefits of a facelift or neck lift may exceed the income advantage.
Naturally, there is no guarantee that facial plastic surgery will get you the job or income you want or prevent you from getting laid off or fired. But the science clearly shows that good looks provide you a substantial advantage and an unattractive look gives you a greater disadvantage. You might well conclude, as many have, that the facelift price is a good investment indeed.
Why not arrange a free in-person or virtual consultation with Dr. Brian Machida at STC Plastic Surgery to discuss your personal options?