Comparing salary is the recipe for unhappiness--study

Researchers at the Paris School of Economics used the European Social Survey and established that people who compared their incomes with others tended to be less happy.

"Constantly looking over one's shoulder seems to make the world a less happy - and more unequal – place," concluded the study authors.

Comparison with friends more depressing
The unhappiness was more pronounced if the comparison was made with the salaries of friends and family rather than work colleagues.

So in a way, comparisons with work colleagues appear relatively innocuous, whereas comparisons with friends appear the most offensive for it is twice as painful vis-à-vis salary comparisons with colleagues.

"With work colleagues it's a fairness issue, but with school friends who had the same opportunities as you might think 'They've done much better than me so I must be less competent'," noted Professor Cary Cooper, an expert in organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School.

The responses of the 19,000 participants in the study clearly established that the more significance people attached to such comparisons, the worse they were in terms of satisfaction with regard to life in general and standard of living in particular.

“Those who compare more are less happy. There is a negative and significant correlation between comparison intensity and subjective happiness,” maintained the study authors.

Poor people tend to compare more
This study, which spanned 24 countries, also revealed that people in poorer countries had a higher tendency of comparing their incomes vis-à-vis their counterparts in richer countries. Within countries, poorer people were more apt to weigh their incomes against richer people.

Lead author of the study, Professor Andrew Clark, was surprised at the bigger effect witnessed in poorer groups.

"I had thought that richer people would compare more because if you're down towards the bottom what really matters is just getting the minimum required, but it didn't come out that way," opined Clark.

Professor Cooper opined that people who persistently use comparisons are normally unsure of themselves.

He said that it was imperative to know whether people make comparisons because they are unhappy to begin with or they become unhappy after these comparisons.

"I would advise people to not compare themselves and be happy with who they are and the situation they're in - remember those you're comparing yourself with may not actually be more content," advised Cooper.

The findings of the study have been published in the Economic Journal.