Smokers have harder time getting jobs, earn less in U.S.: study

Smokers are less likely to find jobs in the United States and when they do they earn substantially less than nonsmokers, according to a study published Monday that revealed that smoking may cost more than the money smokers spend on cigarettes.

"The health harms of smoking have been established for decades," Judith Prochaska, associate professor at the Stanford University, who led the study, said in a statement.

"And our study here provides insight into the financial harms of smoking both in terms of lower re-employment success and lower wages."

Previous studies have demonstrated an association between smoking and unemployment in the United States and Europe. However, it has not been clear if smoking is the cause or the result of unemployment.

In the new study, Prochaska and her team surveyed 131 unemployed smokers and 120 unemployed nonsmokers at the beginning of the study and then at six and 12 months.

At 12 months, only 27 percent of smokers had found jobs compared with 56 percent of nonsmokers. And among those who had found jobs by 12 months, smokers earned on average five U.S. dollars less per hour than nonsmokers.

Prochaska said smokers and nonsmokers differed in a number of important ways besides whether they smoked.

For example, smokers were, on average, younger, less-educated and in poorer health than nonsmokers, and such differences might influence job seekers' ability to find work, she said.

After controlling for these and other variables, they found smokers still remained at a big disadvantage.

The re-employment rate of smokers was 24 percent lower than that of nonsmokers after 12 months, their results showed.

"We found that smokers had a much harder time finding work than nonsmokers," said Prochaska.

The findings were published in the U.S. journal JAMA Internal Medicine. Endit