Work Out More, Make More Money: Study

A new study suggests that in addition to other benefits, pumping iron can also pump up your take-home pay.

Published in the Journal of Labor Research,  the findings from study author Vasilios D. Kosteas of Cleveland State University  indicate that regular exercise could result in a pay raise of roughly to 6 to 10% over those employees who are coach potatoes.

Regular exercise according to the study is working out at least three hours per week, which is a far cry from exercise boot camp. Time outlines the study’s methodology as follows:

Kosteas  scored each subject on how well they fit the profile of a regular exerciser. He then compared only similar individuals, some of whom didn’t exercise, and found that those who actually did earned more — 9% more.

 LifeHacker  further explains that  so-called “propensity” score matching determined…

whether the employees who earned more were people who always led healthy lives and were good at their jobs anyway, or people who specifically made a point to exercise more on a regular basis. They in turn discovered that even people who had no history of healthy behavior did better at work and were in turn rewarded by their employers for it when they started working out regularly.

The findings suggest that you don’t necessarily have to be a full-fledged gym rat to see an improvement in your paycheck.  The study concludes that “while even moderate exercise yields a positive earnings effect, frequent exercise generates an even larger impact.”

Assuming that this study has some validity, does this give you more motivation to hit the gym, especially in this struggling economy? Do you believe there is an actual link between exercise and earnings?