Study claims having an accent can cost you 20% of your potential salary

WSBTV.com News Staff
·2 min read

A 2020 study of how a regional accent could impact wages found that having a different accent can reduce how much you’re paid by as much as 20%.

The study, put together and researched by the University of Chicago and the University of Munich and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that for workers, wage penalties of 20% come from accents, when those in the job are otherwise equal.

A recently updated survey based on the study’s findings, published by the Writing Tips Institute (WTI), chose five regions in the United States to focus on when examining attitudes for wage gaps and accents.

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WTI surveyed 3,000 Americans applying for jobs to see if they try to speak differently or change their accents during interviews, based on “concerns about dialect discrimination.”

The survey results showed that accents in Western New England, South Midland, New Jersey, the South and Baltimore were the types of speech most “generalized” by job applicants when they start interviewing for work.

While those regions were the most common to have prospective workers change their speech, some industries are also more likely to see professionals edit their own accents to get a job.

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According to the Writing Tips Institute, those industries are real estate, tourism, public service, information technology, and engineering.

The survey results reported by the Institute said that “a staggering 38% of job applicants admitted to ‘softening’ their regional accents during interviews to avoid negative stereotypes.”

Among the five regional accents, job applicants from Western New England, South Midland, and New Jersey were those who “most prominent[ly]” chose to adjust their accents while interviewing.

WTI said the research showed the accent wage gap was “equivalent to the gender wage gap, highlighting the significant impact” discrimination over accents and dialects can have on people’s jobs and lives.

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According to the Atlas of North American English, the states most commonly associated with the Southern accent and dialect in the U.S. are:

  • Alabama

  • Arkansas

  • The Jacksonville area of Florida

  • Georgia

  • Kentucky

  • Louisiana

  • Mississippi

  • The Springfield area of Missouri

  • Southeastern New Mexico

  • North Carolina

  • South Carolina

  • Tennessee

  • Most of Texas

  • Virginia

  • Parts of southern West Virginia

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