Money Can't Buy Happiness, But Happy People Earn More Money

A new study has found that happy people earn more than people who are sad. Also, happy workers are more active, efficient and less affected by work.

The study was conducted by an economist Satya Paul, professor of economics at the University of Western Sydney. For years, we have been told that money can't buy happiness. Paul decided to see if the reverse was true; can happiness rake in more money?

For the study, Paul and colleagues looked at data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The survey had information about self-rated happiness levels of 9300 people. He found that happy people liked their jobs, worked more and so earned more money.

After considering other control factors like age and gender, he found that happy Australians made $1766.70 more every year than people at the bottom of the happiness scale.

Also, there are two kinds of happy workers; those who work for extra hours because they love their jobs and hence take home fatter pay-checks and people who take regular breaks and strike a work-life balance increasing their happiness.

Paul will be presenting the study findings at the HILDA Research Conference next month at the University of Melbourne.

A recent study conducted on data from U.S. teens had found that adolescents reporting higher levels of happiness tended to earn more as adults when compared to their gloomy peers. Making money, according to an earlier study, has been negatively associated with well-being.