Do You Want To Get Hired and Earn More? Then Quit Smoking, Says New Study

There are many reason to quit smoking. Obviously health issue can be number one reason but there's another reason to quit now.

According to new study conducted by researches show that Smokers who are unemployed are less likely than nonsmokers to get a job and even they do get a job, they make less money.

"There's been good knowledge of the harms of smoking in terms of health, but it's also important to appreciate the fiscal harms of tobacco use," lead study author Judith Prochaska, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, told CBS News.

To decide whether or not smoking may indeed stop people from getting hired, Prochaska and her team surveyed 131 unemployed smokers and 120 unemployed nonsmokers at the start of the study and then followed up 6 and 12 months afterwards.

The results revealed that after a year, only 27 percent of smokers had got jobs, while 56 percent of nonsmokers had were hired. Moreover, among those who got a job within 12 months, smokers earned, on average, $5 an hour less than nonsmokers.

"Among smokers re-employed at one year, on average, their hourly income was $5 less relative to reemployed nonsmokers: $15.10 versus $20.27, a 25.5 percent difference," Judith Prochaska of Stanford University and colleagues wrote in their report.

The average cost per person for smoking per year was $8,300 as well.

Though the research did not look at the possible reasons why smokers may be less likely to find work, Prochaska has some ideas.

"We did find when we interviewed the smokers that they prioritized spending on tobacco more so than other factors that might help their job search," Prochaska added.

More than 90 percent of smokers, had tried at least once to quit, Prochaska's team reported.

Prochaska's next research will look at the opposite side of the equation. Employers say job seekers are at a disadvantage if they smell of smoke.

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths every year, or 1 of every 5 deaths. Current smoking has decreased from almost 21 of every 100 adults (20.9%) in 2005 to nearly 17 of every 100 adults (16.8%) in 2014.

The study was published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.