Why do smokers earn less? Job characteristics as a possible link

December 7, 2022

The negative association between smoking and income/earnings seems to be an established result, at least in North America. It has been dubbed a “smoking penalty”. It is still unclear why such a smoking income loss exists. Using a sample of 35,000 employed or self-employed individuals aged 25 to 64 and not in poor health from the 2015-16 Canadian Community Health Survey, we confirm the existence of a smoking penalty in Canada. Then, using the national occupational code (NOC), we link CCHS data to job characteristics (O*Net) to explore their role in explaining the association between smoking behaviour and income. We find that controlling for job characteristics alone reduces the income penalty by around one-third for current smokers, while jobs and health (physical and mental health) together explain around half of that link (49% for males and 56% for females). Therefore, it looks like the penalty is not entirely causal (smoking does not make one poor) but stems from the fact that job characteristics that reduce the paycheck could also be linked with a higher probability of smoking.

To request the Zoom link, please email Emmanuel at emmanuel.guindon@mcmaster.ca.