The Impact Of Obesity On Personal Career Development

After the reform and opening-up,China’s economy has developed rapidly,living conditions have greatly improved,people’s dietary structure has undergone dramatic changes,coupled with the modernization of lifestyle and the reduction of physical activity,the Chinese people’s physique has undergone significant changes-the proportion of overweight and obese people has increased rapidly and still maintained an upward trend.On the other hand,with the increasingly fierce market competition,the problem of appearance discrimination in China’s labor market has become increasingly prominent.The most important thing for the work unit should be the ability of the applicant,but the current reality is very cruel:those competent but plain-looking applicants have not yet had the opportunity to enter the competitive circle,they are eliminated because of their weaker appearance characteristics.According to statistics,in 2017,China’s total number of medical and aesthetic cases exceeded 10 million,which accorded with the growth rate of more than 40%,becoming the second largest country in the world after the United States.At the same time,the fitness army can not be underestimated,the number of fitness members and the same growth rate are on the rise.Behind this,in addition to the more and more people who appear on the surface to pay attention to facial appearance,physical health and body training,the deeper level is that in this"face-looking" society,people seem to be more and more concerned about the impact of appearance on personal economic conditions,especially the impact of unexpected shape on individual performance in the labor market.In our country,the reasons for the above-mentioned situation probably come from three aspects:firstly,there are no legal regulations for the definition and punishment measures of exterior discrimination in our country;secondly,exterior discrimination still belongs to a kind of implicit discrimination in our country,and the attention is far from enough,the tolerance of this discrimination is also high,and in some cases,this discrimination is acquiesced by the parties;Because of the large population base in China,the phenomenon of labor oversupply in the labor market is more serious,which provides more opportunities for employers to choose and demand more critical.However,we must realize that obesity itself is not the focus,it is an individualized problem,the focus is on the social contradictions that may arise from discrimination against body shape.On the one hand,physical discrimination can cause psychological trauma to the victims,and even lead to social unrest and tragedy.On the other hand,Physical Discrimination in the labor market can lead to income inequality and inequality,widen the gap between rich and poor,reduce production efficiency,and reduce the welfare level of the whole society.Therefore,it is of great practical significance to pay attention to the impact of physical shape on income.The structure of this paper is as follows:the first part is the introduction,the second part is the literature review of the relationship between external discrimination and income.The third part introduces the data sources,main variables,statistical sample processing and description.The fourth part is about the simple linear model of wages.It analyzes the effect of the core explanatory variables and other control variables on wages by controlling the regression results of various related variables.The linear model adopts the estimation method of ordinary least square method(OLS).We also use the tool variable method to solve the endogenous problem of the model.Then the individual samples are divided into two categories:obesity and non obesity.Firstly,the Oaxaca blinder decomposition method of wage difference is explained,and then the degree of wage gap caused by body type discrimination is measured by this decomposition method.The fifth part is the conclusion and policy suggestions.Based on the survey data of CHNS in 2011,this paper discusses the problem of somatotype discrimination in China’s labor market from the point of view of body mass index(BMI),a variable containing both height and weight.First of all,we set up the income regression equation,by constantly adding control variables to exclude the wage differences caused by the differences in human capital and professional units caused by the body shape,we regress the whole sample to continuously verify that BMI has a significant,stable and important impact on wages,and determine the existence of body shape discrimination.Thirdly,in order to solve the influence of endogeneity,we choose the average BMI of other family members as the tool variable of individual BMI,and the significance symbols of the results are unchanged.Then,Mincer’s wage equation is established,and the whole sample is divided into obesity group and non obesity group,and OLS regression is carried out respectively.Then the wage difference between the two groups is decomposed by Oaxaca blinder decomposition method to measure the proportion of body discrimination in wage difference.Finally,we come to the conclusion that there is a problem of body type discrimination in China’s labor market,and the proportion of body type discrimination in the wage difference between obese and non obese groups exceeds the wage difference caused by human capital and other factors.In the wage difference between obese and non obese groups,the proportion of discrimination factors is large,and obesity has a negative impact on personal career development.The innovations of this paper are as follows:(1)The credibility of the research data is high.We use the latest cross-sectional data of Chinese Nutrition and Health Survey(CHNS),height and weight and other body characteristics variables,which are measured by professional medical staff,more reliable.(2)The advanced nature of research.There is a lack of academic research on the economic aspects of body type or appearance discrimination existing in the labor market in China.This paper aims to enrich the literature research on the angle of appearance discrimination in economics.(3)Innovation of research variables.It is more scientific and objective to classify the body type according to BMI set in international medicine.For the first time,the bonus variable is added to control the influence of lazy and lazy personality on income.(4)Innovation of research content.The existing literature is generally limited to proving that body shape has an impact on employment and income.This paper not only proves that body shape does have a significant impact on wages,but also decomposes the wage gap by establishing the extended Mincer equation and using Oaxaca blinder decomposition method to measure the proportion of discrimination factors(unexplained part)in the wage gap,as well as other people The contribution of power capital to wage gap.(5)Endogenous treatment.There are few literatures that deal with the endogenous effects of BMI and income,and other unobservable factors on BMI and income.In this paper,we construct the instrumental variables of individual BMI to regress,and get more reliable results.The shortcomings of this paper are as follows:(1)According to the academic practice,the best way to study wage income and wage gap decomposition is to use hourly wage rate as the income index.However,due to the limitation of sample selection,this paper finally adopts the average monthly wage(including subsidy)of the individual last year.(2)The individuals involved in this paper are those who join the labor market,i.e.those with jobs and wages.Our research results are only applicable to all groups with jobs and incomes.