Study: Smoking Bans Don't Lead to Layoffs
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June 24, 2009
Charleston, WV – Stubbing out cigarettes indoors at public places doesn't stub out the bottom-line profits of businesses like bars and restaurants, nor does it cause them to lay off workers.
As local health authorities have pushed for indoor smoking bans in some parts of West Virginia, there's been concern about the effects such bans could have on businesses in the hospitality industry. This month, however, a new study published in the journal Prevention Science could ease some of the economic fears.
Its lead author, Liz Klein, is a professor of health behavior at Ohio State University. Smoking ban laws have been passed in recent years in several states, counties and towns, she says, which made it possible to determine how the hospitality industry has fared.
"The take-home message from this is, we didn't find that there was any significant effect on employment in bars and restaurants."
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, exposure to secondhand smoke increases nonsmokers' risks of developing lung cancer and heart disease. Klein says the research on the health benefits of making workplaces smoke-free is solid, and she hopes the study helps bar and restaurant owners who want to protect workers' health, but are concerned about losing business.
"Enacting these comprehensive clean indoor air policies provides the greatest public health benefit, and didn't produce any sort of significant economic effect."
Bar owners in particular have claimed smoking bans would hurt their business. Critics of the study say it did not look at the profit-loss sheets for bars and restaurants, although Klein points out that profit-loss reporting methods vary widely in the industry and would not be valid forms of research data. She claims the staffing level is a more accurate indicator, because jobs are added and/or cut quickly in these types of businesses, based on their economic situation.