Harvard Study Links GLP-1 Use to 27-Point Employment Gain for Women
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 23
Harvard Study Links GLP-1 Use to 27-Point Employment Gain for Women
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Aug 23
Summary
A 2026 NBER working paper by Harvard economist Rebecca Diamond found unemployed women who started GLP-1 drugs saw employment rise nearly 27 percentage points after 18 months versus women who wanted the drugs but had not begun.
The study points to appearance-based hiring bias as a likely mechanism, with recruiters saying employers often code looks into subjective judgments such as “polished,” “professional” or a better “fit.”
A 2020 Mexico field experiment with more than 3,200 fictitious applications found non-obese women got callbacks 29.1% of the time versus 21.3% for otherwise comparable women portrayed as obese, with no similar penalty for men.
Together, the findings suggest weight-loss drugs may improve labor-market outcomes for some women not only through health effects, but by reducing a persistent hiring penalty tied to appearance.