Lookism is pretty serious, folks. Or whatever you want to call it since that one sounds silly.
Maybe a makeover should be suggested more often in job search advice? Work on your hair and diet for a few months before you jump ship and you could have better luck.
I wonder how GLP-1 treatment would affect men's employment. I think in the case of women, if there's an effect for appearance increasing employment opportunities, it's not surprising that losing weight would help too.
I think there's a lot of just-world fallacy going around re: how I keep running across the following pattern online now that GLP-1RA drugs exist.
Commenter A (esp. often a woman, though of any age): I lost a lot of weight and people treat me radically better. I did not change my behavior in a way that explains this; it seems like stigma / prejudice.
Commenter B: I have never met you but it is probably the case that stigma is not relevant and in fact you did somehow become more confident or otherwise start behaving differently in ways that mean your prior and current experiences of the world were somehow deserved.
“Deserved” might not be the right word, or is carrying serious weight.
All I can say from my personal experience is that I’ve noticed major widespread improvements when I A) got in visibly good shape and B) became confident in my professional career and abilities. I behaved differently as a result of my confidence, and it is clear as day to me, including the more positive results it delivers.
My angsty nervous young adult self, completely unconfident, was working against me. I don’t think I “deserved” that in any retributive sense, but yeah, I can see how people respond differently to confident people vs perpetually negative doubters. It’s no one’s fault, it’s not cruelty, it’s just how social humans work in large part (not all cases, of course, but most)
So weird to me anyone actually refutes this effect.
I lost weight for two reasons. First was for health, second was for career/being taking seriously in certain social circles (aka networking).
I also went through one of the least confident periods of my life for unrelated reasons right about the time I hit my target goal weight. Debilitating so.
I still got treated better, even when I was barely able to engage in a social interaction. From subtle things I noticed, up towards things that were quite literally spoken out loud and explicit. Just small interactions were less full of friction and low-stakes requests such as solving a problem with a pharmacist tech just seemingly got easier somehow.
And I'm a dude. The impact for women has to be multiples larger.
If looks are important for employment how then men find a job? Men are mostly unattractive even compared to not a perfect woman. In terms of looks and style, average man loses to an average woman. Or employers require only women to be attractive?
> Nor do I find evidence of upward job mobility among incumbent workers. Already-employed women do not increase hours, income per household member, or job-to-job moves. If anything, employer changes decline, possibly due to a desire to retain access to health insurance that covers these drugs. These null effects help distinguish a new-match channel from a general productivity or well-being channel
This complicates the idea that it’s just people treating lighter people better. It could well be that a lot of people who take GLP-1s are obese enough where it affects their ability to go out in the world and do stuff, and losing the weight enables people to work.
This has been the case for a long time, even with attributes that you have far less control over, such as your height [1]. Given typical social prejudices, I would not be surprised if the height effect was greater for men and the weight effect was greater for women.
GLP-1 drugs seem to provide a (relatively) painless way to control the weight effect; the corresponding treatment for control of height [2] is much more painful, risky, and expensive.
The study compares people who actually started GLP-1 treatment to people who say they want to but didn't. It sure seems to me like people who say they want something but don't take action to get it would also be less likely to get jobs, independent of what the thing they want is.
Among baseline partnered men (which is where partnership dissolution is
well-defined), I find a 6.8pp increase in men leaving their baseline partners
(s.e. 2.9), which rises to 12.1pp after 1.5+ years (s.e. 6.1). Unlike women,
partnered men leave existing relationships with weight loss.
40 years ago educated women were rare, even in the western world.
Now not being obese is becoming increasingly rare.
I for one am glad for all the people now finding better employment opportunities, better health, and (anecdotally) better outlooks on life thanks to their weight loss. Awesome throughout.
28 comments
[ 1.6 ms ] story [ 16.0 ms ] threadMaybe a makeover should be suggested more often in job search advice? Work on your hair and diet for a few months before you jump ship and you could have better luck.
Commenter A (esp. often a woman, though of any age): I lost a lot of weight and people treat me radically better. I did not change my behavior in a way that explains this; it seems like stigma / prejudice.
Commenter B: I have never met you but it is probably the case that stigma is not relevant and in fact you did somehow become more confident or otherwise start behaving differently in ways that mean your prior and current experiences of the world were somehow deserved.
Which is kind of wild!
All I can say from my personal experience is that I’ve noticed major widespread improvements when I A) got in visibly good shape and B) became confident in my professional career and abilities. I behaved differently as a result of my confidence, and it is clear as day to me, including the more positive results it delivers.
My angsty nervous young adult self, completely unconfident, was working against me. I don’t think I “deserved” that in any retributive sense, but yeah, I can see how people respond differently to confident people vs perpetually negative doubters. It’s no one’s fault, it’s not cruelty, it’s just how social humans work in large part (not all cases, of course, but most)
I lost weight for two reasons. First was for health, second was for career/being taking seriously in certain social circles (aka networking).
I also went through one of the least confident periods of my life for unrelated reasons right about the time I hit my target goal weight. Debilitating so.
I still got treated better, even when I was barely able to engage in a social interaction. From subtle things I noticed, up towards things that were quite literally spoken out loud and explicit. Just small interactions were less full of friction and low-stakes requests such as solving a problem with a pharmacist tech just seemingly got easier somehow.
And I'm a dude. The impact for women has to be multiples larger.
One key point:
> Nor do I find evidence of upward job mobility among incumbent workers. Already-employed women do not increase hours, income per household member, or job-to-job moves. If anything, employer changes decline, possibly due to a desire to retain access to health insurance that covers these drugs. These null effects help distinguish a new-match channel from a general productivity or well-being channel
This complicates the idea that it’s just people treating lighter people better. It could well be that a lot of people who take GLP-1s are obese enough where it affects their ability to go out in the world and do stuff, and losing the weight enables people to work.
GLP-1 drugs seem to provide a (relatively) painless way to control the weight effect; the corresponding treatment for control of height [2] is much more painful, risky, and expensive.
-------------------
[1] https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/standing
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/us/height-surgery-limb-le...
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w35387/w353...
An tangential part of the paper is partnered men:
This is genuine question, I've started using them and they're one of the best things I've ever paid for.
You get good food, at calculated sizes/calories/etc etc, you don't have to do shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc.
It is insanely convenient and you can manage your weight easily without even any exercises (but they're still recommended tho)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_privilege
If you are badly groomed as a man, you tend to be perceived as careless.
In my experience if you are obese, people think you lack will power and discipline.
Changing how people view you for the better always has an influence on your personal success.
40 years ago educated women were rare, even in the western world. Now not being obese is becoming increasingly rare.
I for one am glad for all the people now finding better employment opportunities, better health, and (anecdotally) better outlooks on life thanks to their weight loss. Awesome throughout.
1783008484 | GLP-1's help women find work, and men to leave their partners | https://www.ft.com/content/a7a9bfbf-9743-473b-897f-6a91ad3fa... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763588
1784040287 | GLP-1: no improvement in (mental) health, employment, and marriage [pdf] | https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w35198/w351... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48907726
1786017110 | The Labor Market Impacts of GLP-1s | https://www.nber.org/papers/w35475 | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49195399