We haven’t seen anything like this before in weight loss as GLP-1 drugs continue to chip away at societal change. In fact, research suggests that women taking these drugs experienced significant gains in employment and marriage rates.
Keep in mind, as a result of the introduction of GLP-1s, we predicted the demise of obesity in America in our article We’re in the last days of fast food chain abundance.
GLP-1 weight-loss drug studies (as shown in Rebecca Diamond’s NBER Study) have shown that women on GLP-1s significantly improved their chances of being employed and married (or co-habitating with someone). The study showed that single women who had used glp-1s for weight loss for at least 1.5 years increased their chances of marriage or serious relationships by 29 percent. And employment among women who were not working at baseline rose by 27 percent.
In addition, the research study said existing relationships did not dissolve and already-employed women did not show upward job mobility, which makes the effect look more like a new-match or first-impression penalty than a broad across-the-board boost from feeling better.
But, should this presumed first-impression bias against overweight come as a surprise?
It’s sad, but true. Most of us assume overweight folks are lazy, greedy and sloppy. And while that’s accurate some of the time, it’s certainly not accurate all of the time. Some people have medical conditions like diabetes, underactive thyroids, and slow metabolisms that make weight maintenance a huge challenge.
The clearest takeaway from this research is that the penalty for being overweight is large enough to impact major life outcomes, especially for women in dating and hiring markets. Research also suggests that society’s penalty for being overweight is most prevalent when people are forming fresh judgments. And first impressions matter when someone is being considered for a new partner or new hire.
How popular are GLP-1s?
A recent Gallup-based report says 11% of U.S. adults reported using GLP-1s in 2026, while the U.S. adult obesity rate has eased to 36.4% after peaking at 39.9% in 2022.
GLP-1s appear to do such a good job; don’t be surprised if as much as a third of all fast food locations across America close by 2030. That industry benefits from impulsive eating, overeating, and those who find it difficult to exercise restraint – Issues that GLP-1s seem to effectively tackle.
The Trump Administration’s Policy on GLP-1s
The Trump administration’s current GLP-1 policy is mainly a price-cut and access expansion strategy; the administration recently negotiated discounts from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to make some of their most prominent GLP-1 products available at lower cost to patients using Medicare, Medicaid or the TrumpRx program that allows individuals to purchase prescriptions directly from manufacturers.
