America is becoming more diverse — and so is the art on our bodies.
A 2015 Harris Poll found that more and more Americans are getting tattoos: Twenty-nine percent have at least one. For millennials, that percentage is even higher: Nearly half (47%) have one, compared with over a third of Gen Xers (36%).
But how does that impact your career? The answer’s unclear.
A 2018 study published by researchers at the University of Miami and the University of Western Australia Business School saw no statistical difference in earnings or employment level among the U.S. participants surveyed.
However, many believe bias still exists. According to a Salary.com survey, 76% of respondents believed that having visible tattoos and piercings at job interviews hurt an applicant’s chances of getting hired.
Still undecided about getting inked? Watch the video above.
More: Need a Job? Try Flaunting Your Ink
Tag: earnings
Ask the Experts: The Pay Gap Explained
You’ve probably heard (or read) the most commonly cited stat about the wage gap: On average, women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns — a ratio that hasn’t shifted since 2002. President Barack Obama wasn’t shy about using this figure (again) in a speech on April 8, otherwise known as National Equal Pay Day (the date marks how far into the following year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year), when he issued two measures aimed at narrowing the gap among workers contracted by the federal government, noting that “it’s an embarrassment” that women with the same education in the same field earn less than men.
But the 77-cent figure doesn’t paint a complete picture of the wage gap, a fact that has been hashed out countless times in political speeches and the media. It derives from a simple calculation of U.S. Census Bureau data — the difference between women’s median salaries and those of men. It doesn’t take into account other variables that affect wages, like level of education, amount of work experience, or the fact that women are more likely than men to take jobs with lower salaries but more flex time — to better accommodate child-rearing. Depending on how you add it up, the pay gap shrinks (or sometimes grows).
Nevertheless, it doesn’t disappear. Though its actual size may be tricky to pin down, the wage gap is real and signifies a problem that’s much bigger than a single statistic. So, NationSwell convened a panel of experts and asked them to explain the pay gap phenomenon, why it exists and what we can do to fix it. Read on for their thoughts, and then join the conversation by leaving your own ideas in the comments box below.
MORE: The Surprising Key to Closing the Gender Pay Gap
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