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Men blessed with the good looks to match George Clooney can reap the benefits in the workplace, says a study. Handsome men can command 22 per cent more in earnings than colleagues doing the same job because of their looks. But men with 'below-average' looks will pay the price for their appearance, earning 26 per cent less than an average-looking man in the same job. They were also 15 per cent more likely to be unemployed than more attractive men. The 'beauty premium' was studied by Australian economists, who were repeating a survey from 1984 to see if there had been any change. The men with below-average looks were also less likely to be married and less likely to be married to a high-earning woman. Results for attractive women only showed that they were more likely to be employed than they were 29 years ago, with no noted effects on their salaries. Dr Andrew Leigh, formerly of the Australian National University, told the Sunday Times: 'Some people still believe that good looks and intelligence are incompatible in women so a good-looking woman can't be that productive. 'There's no dumb-blonde syndrome affecting men's pay.' Dr Leigh and co-researcher Jeff Borland, of Melbourne University, asked participants to rate appearance on a six-point scale. The range of possible answers went from 'very much more attractive than average' to 'well below average'.