Smokers spend more time unemployed than non-smokers, new study shows

Smokers who lose their jobs spend more time unemployed than non-smokers, new research suggests.

While it’s long been known that smokers are more likely to be unemployed , it was not known if smoking itself was in some way damaging people’s chances of employment.

Now a team of scientists in California have found that unemployed non-smokers are not only 30 per cent more likely than smokers to be in work after a year, but also earn on average an extra US$5 an hour than those who light up.

“We have known about the harmful health effects of tobacco use, and we have know that for now about 50 years,” said Judith Prochaska at Stanford University, who led the study. “But here is evidence to show the financial harms of tobacco use, both with success in the workplace - in terms of being rehired - and then also potentially in the differential in pay that smokers versus non-smokers receive.”

Published in the Jama Internal Medicine journal, the study involved 131 unemployed smokers and 120 unemployed non-smokers. Among their findings, the authors reported that smokers were younger, less educated and more likely to be unstably housed, in poorer health and to possess a criminal record than non-smokers. More than half of all participants had been unemployed for more than six months, while nearly 60 per cent had left their last job because their contract ended, or they were laid off.

When the researchers followed up with 108 of the non-smokers and 109 of the smokers after 12 months, they found a pronounced difference between those who smoked and those who did not. When duration of unemployment, age, education, race and ethnicity and perceived health status were taken into account - and extreme cases removed from analysis - the team found non-smokers were 30 per cent more likely to be employed after 12 months than smokers. In addition, among those who had found work within the year, smokers were found on average to earn just over US$5 an hour less.