Beauty, wages, and client discrimination among male employees in China

Mingjie Liu (), Emiko Usui, Ting Yin () and Wenjun Zhao ()
Additional contact information
Mingjie Liu: China Unicom Research Institute
Ting Yin: Faculty of Economics, Toyo University
Wenjun Zhao: Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University

Economics Bulletin, 2025, vol. 45, issue 4, 1860 - 1866

Abstract: Using unique data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), this study investigates whether clients tend to discriminate based on the appearance of male employees, a phenomenon referred to as “client discrimination on the basis of beauty.” We find that (i) attractive male employees are more likely to work in jobs with frequent client contact than their less attractive counterparts, and (ii) a beauty wage premium is paid in such jobs. These results indicate beauty-based client discrimination in a situation where job segregation by appearance is incomplete.

Keywords: Beauty premium; Client discrimination; Wage; Sorting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J3 J7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12-30
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