Finding the time—or the motivation—to go to the gym every day can be tough, so consider this one more reason to hit the treadmill: A new study, published in the June edition of the Journal of Labor Research, points out that workers who exercise regularly earn 9% higher salaries than their colleagues that don't.


Now, correlation doesn't equal causation, but that's just what the study aims to get to the bottom of. The full study is available online, and researchers used a technique called propensity score matching to determine whether the employees who earned more were people who always led healthy lives and were good at their jobs anyway, or people who specifically made a point to exercise more on a regular basis. They in turn discovered that even people who had no history of healthy behavior did better at work and were in turn rewarded by their employers for it when they started working out regularly.

This isn't the first study to draw a line between exercise and higher performance at work (and, subsequently, better compensation at the office), but it's one of the first to really say that working out can help you bring home a bigger paycheck. Of course, the model used here is statistical, so individual results definitely vary—but one thing is certain: working out regularly can improve your mood, your self-esteem, and your health, so it's no surprise it'll help you at the office too. What do you think? Make sense, or are you withholding judgement pending future research? Let us know in the comments.


Want A 9% Raise? Hit the Gym | Smart Money