Your genes may be able to explain your low pay checks: Report

tech2 News StaffApr 13, 2019 17:00:45 IST

Many secrets associated with your existence, your potential vulnerability to certain diseases, your family history are locked in your genes. But did you know, studying your genes could also provide insight into your income?

The UK Biobank, which is the single largest public genetic repository in the world, has samples of the genetic blueprint of half a million Britishers for scientific study.

David Hill, a statistical geneticist at the University of Edinburgh sifted through this data not to find cancer cure but to know why some people make more many than others, Wired reported.

Representational image. Pixabay

“Your DNA will not print you money,” says Hill. But he’s relieved to have found some small effect. “If you’re born with a predisposi­tion for certain traits or abilities, and none of them counted in any way, shape, or form towards your income, then you’d have a profoundly unfair society, in my opinion,” he says.

The researcher asked 286,000 participants on their household income and analysed 18 million places in the genome to see which ones matched up with higher paychecks.

They were able to uncover about 30, which accounts for 7.4 percent of household income variation across the United Kingdom. This basically means, 92.6 percent of a person's income is explained by factors other than genetics. So does it mean genes are completely responsible for the high or low income? Probably not.

With inputs from ANI.