OK, if living longer; smelling better; not getting sick as much; not blowing money; not killing others with second-hand smoke; not being a social pariah; and just generally not looking like an idiot aren't good enough reasons to get you to quit, how about THIS:

[Two] research economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that people who had quit smoking for at least a year earned higher wages than smokers and people who had never smoked. The data show that nonsmokers, which include never smokers and former smokers, bring in about 95% of the hourly wages of former smokers. Smokers, on the other hand, aren't rewarded as much in the workplace. They earned about 80% of nonsmokers' wages. Even one cigarette a day triggers a wage gap between smokers and nonsmokers, economists Julie L. Hotchkiss and M. Melinda Pitts write.

Get that? If you smoke but quit, you will make MORE money than anyone.

But, if you continue to smoke, you will make LESS money than anyone.

You might not care about all the stuff in the first paragraph, but I bet you'd like to make a salary that's 25% higher than what you're making now!

http://gawker.com/study-s...-837611770

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[Edited 7/19/13 12:59pm]

Who gives you a raise of 25% because you stopped smoking? No one.

The wage gap is likely due to productivity differences.

Smokers have to go outside which cuts into their productivity which means others workers are seen as harder working and more deserving of a raise.

They don't show how many of those people switched jobs to earn higher income also.

The more I read, the more BS this seems as to causality. They aren't showing not smoking alone does anything.

SUPRMAN said:

Who gives you a raise of 25% because you stopped smoking? No one.

The wage gap is likely due to productivity differences.

Smokers have to go outside which cuts into their productivity which means others workers are seen as harder working and more deserving of a raise.

They don't show how many of those people switched jobs to earn higher income also.

The more I read, the more BS this seems as to causality. They aren't showing not smoking alone does anything.

I doubt they get a 25% raise handed to them immediately, but it's irrefutable that non-smokers are far more productive than smokers. They don't take smoke breaks and they don't get nearly as sick as smokers.

So I imagine the study shows that over a not-too-long period of time, the newly-minted non-smokers' increased productivity is so evident that the raises and promotions start coming in.

RodeoSchro said:

SUPRMAN said:

Who gives you a raise of 25% because you stopped smoking? No one.

The wage gap is likely due to productivity differences.

Smokers have to go outside which cuts into their productivity which means others workers are seen as harder working and more deserving of a raise.

They don't show how many of those people switched jobs to earn higher income also.

The more I read, the more BS this seems as to causality. They aren't showing not smoking alone does anything.

I doubt they get a 25% raise handed to them immediately, but it's irrefutable that non-smokers are far more productive than smokers. They don't take smoke breaks and they don't get nearly as sick as smokers.

So I imagine the study shows that over a not-too-long period of time, the newly-minted non-smokers' increased productivity is so evident that the raises and promotions start coming in.

But that doesn't differentiate between people who stop smoking, feel increased self-esteem and confidence and seek a higher paying job either with their present employer or elsewhere.

People who switch employers generally get a raise from their present pay. So one company loses a smoker for statistical purposes but another company gains a non-smoker.

But smokers' lifespans are often less than 80% of a non-smoker's, and the retirement years are the ones they will miss out on. So the money is, in a practical way, better for smokers.

I quit smoking when I turned 29. I don't miss it one bit.


I honestly can't imagine why anyone is still smoking these days.

Nasssssssttttaaaaaaayyyy.