Married men who avoid housework are bigger earners

MARRIED men who do not help out in the house tend to earn higher salaries than husbands who do more domestic chores, according to a new study.

Researchers found that “disagreeable” men are less helpful with domestic work, enabling them to devote greater resources to their jobs, which results in higher pay.

The team also discovered that disagreeableness, a personality trait characterised by a lack of empathy and greater self-interest, does not predict career success for men whose wives bunked off the housework.

Nor was it linked to higher salaries in single men who were “disagreeable”.

The research was conducted by Dr Brittany Solomon, assistant professor of management and organisation at the University of Notre Dame in the United States, and colleagues.

Dr Solomon said: “Across two studies, we find that disagreeable men tend to earn more money relative to their more agreeable male counterparts.”

The study, published in the journal

Personnel Psychology, analysed traits of around 1,700 married couples.