Gay wage gap

The gay wage gap is a purported pay gap between homosexuals and heterosexuals. Studies had shown that gay men earn less than their heterosexual counterparts, whereas lesbians tended to earn more. A recent study suggests that this may be changing, as gay men earned more than their heterosexual counterparts in the US.[1] People who are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender may be more likely to experience socioeconomic disadvantages.[2]

Phenomenon

A study by Georgia State University from 2009 stated, that queer men earn 8–10% less in government compared to heterosexual men, even when taking education, race, years of experience and occupation into account.[3] Until recently,[4] there was no openly gay CEO on the Fortune 1000 list, as the Wall Street Journal investigated in 2012.[5] Kirk Snyder, professor at the USC business-school, noted that gay people are better entrepreneurs. Gay managers have a 25% higher level of employee engagement.[3] The National Transgender Discrimination Survey[6] reported, that trans people are up to four times as likely to earn less than $10,000 and twice as likely to be unemployed due to discrimination.[3] In the 2013–2015 National Health Surveys analysed by Christopher Carpenter and Samuel Eppink, they found that gay, full-time employed men made, on average, 10% more than similarly employed straight men even when controlling for various other factors.[7]

Wage discrimination by country

Germany

Taking into account age, education, and industry, gay men earn less than heterosexuals even though they tend to be better educated than the average population.[8][9][10]

Australia

An Australian study[11] has shown that gay men earn 13% less than their straight counterparts. Meanwhile, lesbians earn 13% more than straight women. La Nauze, economist at University of Melbourne, noted: "There are grounds for concern that workers in Australia, particularly gay men, are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation."[12]

United States

A study of the 2013–15 National Health Interview Surveys found that gay, full-time employed men made, on average, 10% more than similarly employed straight men. The same study showed that lesbians received a pay premium of 9%. Bisexual men and women earned less than both gay and straight counterparts.[13]

Wage discrimination by orientation

Lesbian women

Lesbian and bisexual women receive the same pay or the equivalent of what a straight woman makes.

The general dynamic—that gay men suffer a pay gap while lesbians receive a pay premium—can be explained by the gender bias in pay. Men earn more than women in most occupations, and this inequality plays out regardless of sexual orientation. In fact, in Badgett's 2009 review, some studies showed that while lesbians earned more than heterosexual women, they made less than straight and gay men.

"In the case of lesbian women, they are compared to heterosexual women, who are really the lowest paid people," says Badgett. Meanwhile, the earnings of gay men were compared to straight men, who are, on average, paid the most.

Lesbian women make a median of 1.4% more than heterosexual women, but make 25.6% less than heterosexual men.[14] Women who are between the ages of 18 and 44, 29% of bisexual women and 23% of lesbian women are experiencing poverty, unlike the 21% of heterosexual women who are not.[2] Lesbian couples tend to experience higher poverty rates while earning similarly the same as straight women. This is largely due to the discrimination and homophobia that homosexual women face that their heterosexual counterparts do not. But, lesbians still earn less than the regular household income of a heterosexual couple because of the gender wage gap. As a result, lesbian couples/households are more likely to live in poverty than heterosexual couples/households.[15] Thus, gay women are economically disadvantaged for not being the straight stereotypical female in a heterosexual relationship.

Even when lesbians do get hired they are far more likely to face workplace harassment and bullying. In America, a study from UCLA's Williams Institute found up to 41 percent of LGBT+ employees had been "verbally or physically abused or had their workplace vandalized." While 1 in 6 had reported that their sexual orientation stood in the way of career advancement, or lead to them being let go.

Gay men

Until recently it was thought that gay men made a median of 18.4% less than compared to straight men.[14] A recent study has showed that in the US Gay men now earn 10% more than their heterosexual counterparts.[1] Gay men are economically disadvantaged for not being the straight stereotypical male in a heterosexual relationship.[14] Gay and bisexual men receive 10–32% less pay than straight men, especially when considering factors such as education, race, occupation, and work experience come into the work place.[16] 20% of gay men and 25% of bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 44 live in or below the poverty level, unlike the 15% of heterosexual men who are not.[2]

Transgender individuals

Transgender adults are nearly 4 times as likely to have a household income of under $10,000 per year.[2]

Sources
  1. Carpenter, Christopher S.; Eppink, Samuel T. (2017). "Does It Get Better? Recent Estimates of Sexual Orientation and Earnings in the United States". Southern Economic Journal. 84 (2): 426–441. doi:10.1002/soej.12233.
  2. "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons & Socioeconomic Status". www.apa.org. American Psychological Association. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  3. Rivas, Jorge. "The gay pay gap: Gays get paid less, lesbians earn more". Splinter. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  4. "Tim Cook Speaks Up". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  5. Kwoh, Leslie (2012-07-25). "A Silence Hangs Over Gay CEOs". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  6. Grant, Jaime M. "Injustice at Every Turn" (PDF). National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-06. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  7. "Gay men now earn more than straight men in the US". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  8. "Arbeitsmarkt: Schwule verdienen weniger als Heterosexuelle". Die Zeit (in German). 2017-08-31. ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  9. Holzki, Larissa (2017-08-31). "Schwule Männer verdienen weniger". sueddeutsche.de (in German). ISSN 0174-4917. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  10. "Schwule verdienen weniger als Heteromänner – aber warum? – Mannschaft Magazin". Mannschaft Magazin (in German). 2017-09-01. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
  11. Wade, Matt (2015-02-28). "The gay pay gap: men earn less, but women earn more". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  12. "Untitled | Employment Discrimination | Homosexuality". Scribd. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  13. "Gay men now earn more than straight men in the US". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  14. "Ignoring LGBT individuals allows the gay wage gap to continue". realchangenews.org. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  15. "The Impact of Wage Equality on Sexual Orientation Poverty Gaps". Williams Institute. 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  16. Burns, Crosby (2012-04-16). "The Gay and Transgender Wage Gap". Center for American Progress. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
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