Drinking in college is widely known as a social event, but a recent study says men and women who drink socially while in the work force may make more money than those who don't.

The study, funded by the Reason Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization, surveyed about 8,000 males and 6,000 females, said co-author Bethany Peters.

Peters, an economist at the Analysis Group in Austin, Texas, said she has been researching the relationship between alcohol and earnings since writing her graduate school dissertation at Duke University.

The "Alcohol Earnings Paradox," as Peters refers to it, is a theory that drinking is directly, and positively, related to earnings, and it has been presented since the late 1980's, she said.

At yesterday's Co-op and Internship Recruitment Fair, recruiters had mixed reactions about the study.

Phil Suter, a chemical engineer for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said he hasn't seen drinking as something that affects a persons' advancement in the company within the government sector of business. He said he thought that, in private businesses, it would be an asset to someone's career.

"In the private sector, a lot of jobs get passed out by word of mouth first," Suter said.

He added that by socializing with co-workers, an employee might hear of a promotion or new job opportunity before anyone else, resulting in a better job and higher pay.

"I wouldn't trust a guy that won't have a beer," Jason Werner (senior-mechanical engineering) said.

Werner said going to the bar with co-workers is something he thinks is a very important part of strengthening the social environment of a workplace.

Others disagreed.

"I don't know if beer has anything to do with it," said Chris Kovalsky, a project engineer for Nucor Steel.

Kovalsky added that it doesn't matter what types of socializing employees engage in. Playing softball or any other type of social event can have the same positive results as going to the bar, he said.

Chris Matangos, senior director of operations for Ingram Micro, disagreed with the study's findings, except in fields like public relations and marketing, where having a great personality and being sociable is a big part of the job.

"If you're a manager, it's not going to help your career," he said.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon also did not agree with the study. In an e-mail message, Mahon stated that the study did not include lost income from alcohol-related deaths and tax money spent to house drunk drivers in prison.

"It looks like a flawed study," Mahon said.

Peters responded that the study only relates light to moderate drinking to a higher income. Heavy drinking and binge drinking both result in lower incomes, she said.

"We're not trying to say that alcohol is always good," she said. "This is just saying that there happens to be a relationship between people who drink at all and people who don't drink at all."