Male CEOs of major corporations are, on average, three inches taller than the average male. When data from the general population are analyzed and corrected for gender and age, a clear pattern emerges: for every extra inch of height, a person's annual salary increases by approximately $\(\$ 789\)$. Citing these data, a prominent journalist claims that most employers have an unconscious bias in favor of tall people.

Which of the following considerations, if true, would most seriously undermine the journalist's argument?

(A) On average, a woman is shorter than her husband and earns less than he does.
(B) Socioeconomic status has been shown to have a strong positive correlation to both height and educational attainment.
(C) Professional basketball players, who are some of the tallest people in the labor force, have high incomes.
(D) Human resources professionals, who make many hiring decisions, are on average no taller than the general population.
(E) A tall person's tenure in a paid position is typically shorter than is the tenure of a person of average height.