職場囧研究：成功戒菸者工資更高

Former smokers earn higher wages than smokers and people who have never smoked, according to new research.
一項新的研究發現，成功戒菸者的工資水平要高於未戒菸者和從未吸過煙的人。

In a working paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, research economists Julie L. Hotchkiss and M. Melinda Pitts studied the relationship between smoking and wages. Using data from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey over the period of 1992 to 2011, the economists 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 shows that nonsmokers, which include never smokers and former smokers, bring in about 95% of the hourly wages of former smokers.
在亞特蘭大聯邦儲備銀行公佈的一份工作論文當中，霍奇基斯和皮茨這兩名經濟學家對吸菸與工資之間的關係進行了研究。利用從1992年到2011年間美國人口普查局當期人口調查中的《菸草製品使用情況附錄》數據，兩人發現，成功戒菸至少一年的人羣，其工資高於未戒菸者和從未吸過煙的人。數據表明，不吸菸人羣（包括從不吸菸的人羣和已經戒菸的人羣）的每小時工資水平大致相當於已戒菸者的95%。

Smokers, on the other hand, are not 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, the economists write. 'Smoking erodes the value of your human capital in the labor market,' said Ms. Pitts.
而另一方面，職場中未戒菸者的情況要更差一些。兩名經濟學家寫道，他們的工資水平相當於不吸菸人羣的80%。皮茨說，吸菸會侵蝕你在勞動力市場上的人力資源價值。

Are tobacco users earning less because smoking reduces their productivity? Ms. Hotckiss and Ms. Pitts didn't find evidence for this. The two economists tested the relationship between wages and smoking intensity and found that the frequency at which people smoke doesn't significantly affect their earnings. 'The idea is that if the productivity was affected by smoking, then heavier smokers would have a much larger wage gap. We didn't find support for this hypothesis,' said Ms. Pitts.
未戒菸者的工資水平較低是不是因爲吸菸降低了他們的勞動生產率呢？霍奇基斯和皮茨並沒有發現相關證據。這兩名經濟學家測試了工資和吸菸強度的關係，發現吸菸的頻度對他們的收入沒有顯著影響。皮茨說，這裏面的邏輯是，如果說吸菸影響生產率，那麼吸菸頻率高的人的工資差距就應該大一些，不過我們並沒有發現支持這一假設的證據。

They determined that differences in the characteristics of smokers and nonsmokers, such as educational attainment, as well as unmeasured factors such as an employer's tolerance to smoking behavior, are mostly driving the wage gap. They noted that education level was the largest contributing variable. Nonsmokers tend to be more educated, are less likely to have spouses who smoke and live in states where cigarette prices are higher than smokers.
他們認爲，未戒菸人羣和不吸菸人羣之間出現的工資水平差距大部分原因在於特質上的差別（比如受教育程度）和其他未測量的因素（比如僱主對抽菸這種行爲的容忍度）。他們指出，受教育程度是影響最大的變量。與未戒菸人羣相比，不吸菸人羣的受教育程度更高，其配偶吸菸的可能性也更低，並且居住在香菸價格水平更高的州里面。

The findings suggest that the characteristics of former smokers are more highly rewarded in the labor market than those of smokers and people who have never smoked. 'It takes a special person to quit an addictive behavior, and there is a higher reward for smoking cessation than not ever starting it,' said Ms. Pitts. 'I think the qualities of persistence, patience and everything else that goes along with being able to quit are valuable to employers.'
相關發現表明，與未戒菸者和從未吸過煙的人相比，戒菸者的特質在勞動市場中更被看重。皮茨說：只有比較特別的人才能戒掉一種成癮行爲，因此，與從未開始吸菸這種行爲相比，戒菸這種行爲得到的獎勵更高；我認爲，對僱主而言，堅持、耐心和其他與戒菸能力相關的所有品質都很有價值。