Drinking Your Way To The Top

Moderate drinkers are more likely to succeed at work than those who don't touch the stuff, according to economists at the University of Stirling, who have studied the habits and careers of more than 17,000 people born in the same week in 1958. The results are reported in the newspaper Scotland on Sunday.

The obvious objection to this is that both moderate drinking and success at work are in fact accoutrements of a sociable personality, rather than one being the cause of the other, but the researchers are aware of this and make a strong case by contending that drinking builds trust and friendships and enables 'networking' with bosses.

On average, moderate drinkers earn 17 per cent more than colleagues who do not drink. Heavy drinkers - defined in the survey as men who drink more than 50 units of alcohol (25 pints) a week and women who drink more than 35 units (18 pints) - earn 6% less than moderate drinkers, but still more than those who do not drink at all.

The average income for drinkers surveyed was £13,780 a year; nearly £2,000 a year more than teetotallers, who earned just £11,804.

Professor David Bell, of Stirling University's economics department, said: 'The survey shows you don't want to be a teetotaler. People who drink moderately do seem to earn more ... It may be that people are not really seen as one of the gang if they don't go to the pub with their colleagues after work. If instead of binge-drinking', he concludes with a flourish, 'you steadily soak yourself in alcohol, it has no impact on your earnings'.

More detail is available at www.scotlandonsunday.com/index.cfm?id=871202003

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.