Study shows links between spouses and earnings

A study by Washington University found that workers with conscientious spouses move up more in their career than those who do not. Researchers have some theories why this may be the case.

First, a conscientious spouse is likely to promote healthy outsourcing by assigning the chores around the house. That kind of outsourcing may be copied by the employee in the workplace.

And researchers say employees might copy some of their spouse's other good habits as well, such as diligence and reliability.

Second, having a smooth and organized home life makes a worker less stressed and more likely to be productive in the office.

To reach these conclusions, researchers studied nearly 5,000 married workers and their spouses.

Researcher Joshua Jackson said, "This is another example where personality traits are found to predict broad outcomes like health status or occupational success."