'Very Unattractive' People Can Earn More Than Attractive Co-Workers, Study Finds

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new study finds that "very unattractive" people can earn more than their attractive co-workers.

A study conducted by Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom and Mary Still of the University of Massachusetts in Boston reveals that "people are not necessarily discriminated against because of their looks."

The researchers believe they dispelled the "beauty premium theory" – which means that people who are physically attractive earn more – when taking into account health, intelligence and major personality factors.

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However, the study finds physically attractive people have traits that help them make more, just not their looks alone.

"Physically more attractive workers may earn more, not necessarily because they are more beautiful, but because they are healthier, more intelligence, and have better personality traits conducive to higher earnings, such as being more conscientious, more extraverted, and less neurotic," Kanazawa said in a statement.

Researchers say evidence was found for a so-called "ugliness premium" in which respondents who fell in the "very unattractive" category consistently earned more than those who were considered "merely unattractive." The study also found that this was the case measured against their more attractive co-workers.

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Out of the 20,000 respondents, only 1 to 2 percent of the sample were rated "very unattractive."

Still says that in other studies, those deemed "very unattractive" and "unattractive" were grouped together to form a "below-average" category.

"Thereby they fail to document the ugliness premium enjoyed by the very unattractive workers," Still says in a statement.

The study was published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.