Interesting. From Penn News: “Short Teenage Boys Earn Less Than Tall Teenage Boys When They Each Grow Up”:
‘Not fitting in’ has negative, long-term, economic consequences for short, teenage boys. Decades later, they are far more likely to earn less money than their taller peers.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found that a boy’s height at age 16 is a significant determinant of his salary as an adult.
Penn economics professors Nicola Persico and Andrew Postlewaite and Penn graduate student Dan Silverman are co-authors of the report, “The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height.”
[…] ‘Height varies over time, so that a relatively tall 16-year-old may turn out to be a relatively short adult and vice versa; however, adult height is irrelevant in the labor market,’ Persico said. ‘We found that two adults of the same age and height, who were different heights at age 16, were treated differently in the labor market. The taller teen earned more,’ Persico said.
In any given field, the worker who was taller as a teen earned a ‘wage premium’ as much as 15 percent more than the worker who was short as a teenager.
The researchers suggested that the social and cultural stigma of being short during adolescence contributed to the disparity in wages across heights.
Well, let’s see… At 16, I was 5’10” tall.
Today, I’m nearly 6 foot — and poor as an ugly prostitute. With intimacy issues and a fear of erections.
…Gee, I sure hope there was no government grant money involved in this study…
Hey Buddy (again),
My Wife is only 4’ 11 3/4 (on a bad hair day. First you call my Wife a hussy, then you make fun of short people. What’s the deal my Bro?
I was a tall teen, over 6 feet. I’m sure my height was the deciding factor in getting one of my first jobs.
I worked at a book store staffed mostly with short women. So, the top shelves, the overhead flourescent lights, and anything else over 6 feet off the ground was my domain. I ruled but, only because of my height.
All those poor short people were shut out of that job just because I was tall enough to do the job and they weren’t.
Expect the Democrats to make the distribution of growth hormones to the ‘Vertically Challenged’ a major plank in their 2004 platform.
Of course we short people (5’6″) have a reason to live.
It’s the Schadenfreude we feel when you overgrown types smack your foreheads into door headers.
I’ve been 6’2” since I was 13 (I would have grown more, but I stunted my growth through pot smoking and excessive masturbation–or is that an oxymoron?). Not only that, but I am of Teutonic origin, with blond hair, blue eyes, perfect skin, and a rather muscular build. Oh, the shame, the shame! I always got picked first in gym class, regardless of the sport. In the Army, my superiors always singled me out for leadership positions. While traveling in the Deep South, I noticed the good old boys would give me a knowing wink, as if we’d attended the same KKK rally the night before. Women always come on to me, 24/7. It’s a curse, I am telling you. I wished I looked like Bill Gates or that Urkel kid on TV. My real fantasy was to be that little midget actor, Billy Barty. Now there was a REAL man.