Smoking linked to lower earnings and shorter careers, study finds

Smoking has long been known to cause serious health problems. It raises the risk of cancer, breathing diseases, and heart conditions. In 2019, about 14% of all deaths worldwide were linked to smoking. Although fewer people smoke today than in the 1990s, the problem has not disappeared. In high-income countries, 18% of women and 27% of men still smoked in 2019.

Beyond health dangers, smoking also hurts your chances of doing well in the workforce. It lowers your earnings and reduces your ability to stay employed, even if you never suffer a serious illness. A recent study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research by Oxford University Press dives deeper into these hidden costs.

For years, researchers suspected that smoking might cause financial problems, but not many studies had the data to prove it. Now, new work from Finnish scientists provides stronger evidence. They followed 3,596 people born between 1962 and 1977 as part of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Participants lived in both cities and small towns across five major university regions.

Using personal identifiers, researchers linked participants’ survey data with official employment records from Statistics Finland and background data from the Longitudinal Population Census. This allowed them to study real-world earnings and work histories over 18 years, from 2001 onward, when participants were between 24 and 39 years old.

To measure smoking, they used a method called "pack-years," which calculates a person's total exposure to cigarettes. This number comes from multiplying how many packs someone smokes daily by how many years they have smoked. For example, someone who smoked one pack per day for ten years would have ten pack-years.

The results were clear and troubling. For each additional pack-year of smoking, earnings dropped by about 1.8%. That means cutting back by five pack-years could lead to a 9% boost in income.

Researchers also found that each extra pack-year reduced the number of years spent employed by about 0.5%. This shows that smoking not only lowers income but also shortens careers.

Jutta Viinikainen, the study’s lead author, explained, "Smoking in early adulthood is closely linked to long-term earnings and employment, with lower-educated individuals experiencing the most severe consequences."

The loss in earnings and employment did not affect all groups equally. People with lower education levels saw the biggest drop. Among younger workers with less schooling, smokers earned far less than nonsmokers. Among older workers, this gap did not appear.

Smoking harms your body in ways that go beyond disease. Even if you do not develop cancer or heart trouble, smoking can weaken your physical fitness and reduce your work performance. This matters even more in jobs that require strength, stamina, or manual labor.

Poor fitness can make it harder to meet the demands of certain occupations, limiting promotions and raises. Some smokers also take more sick days or retire earlier due to minor but chronic health problems.

Bias and stigma make things worse. Employers may view smokers as less reliable or less healthy, leading to fewer job offers, slower promotions, or harsher evaluations. In a market where first impressions matter, smoking carries a visible cost.

Researchers noticed something else important: the harmful link between smoking and employment showed up mainly among people who still smoked. Those who had quit smoking did not face the same financial penalties.

This suggests that quitting may help recover some lost ground, especially for younger workers. Viinikainen and her team stressed the importance of helping young adults quit before the damage compounds over decades.

Although smoking rates have fallen since the 1990s, the problem remains stubborn, especially among certain groups. Lower-income and less-educated communities often have higher smoking rates. These same groups are also most vulnerable to the career and financial costs revealed by the study.

Programs aimed at smoking prevention usually focus on health risks, but these new findings show that money and career prospects are also at stake. Public health efforts might gain ground by highlighting the broader financial risks tied to smoking.

"These findings highlight the need for policies that address smoking's hidden economic costs and promote healthier behaviors," Viinikainen said. Helping people quit smoking earlier could strengthen not just public health but the overall economy.

The next time you think about lighting a cigarette, it is not just your lungs at risk. Your paycheck, your career, and your future might also be on the line.

Note: The article above provided above by The Brighter Side of News.

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