Gay wage gap
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The gay wage gap is the pay gap between homosexuals and heterosexuals. Studies have shown that gay men, when including the unemployed, but not when excluding them, earn less than their heterosexual counterparts, whereas lesbians earn more ("lesbian wage premium"). This open discrimination is well documented in both gay friendly countries as well as those that openly discriminate against gay men (e.g. China and Saudi Arabia). People who are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender experience socioeconomic disadvantages.[1]
Phenomenon
Full-time employed Gay men earn, on average, 10 percent more than straight men.
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.[2] The National Transgender Discrimination Survey[3] 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.[2] 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.[4]
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.[5][6][7]
Australia
An Australian study[8] 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."[9]
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.[10]
Wage discrimination by orientation
Lesbian women
Lesbian women make a median of 1.4% more than heterosexual women, but make 25.6% less than heterosexual men.[11] Women who are between the ages of 18 and 44, 29% of bisexual women and 23% of lesbian women are experiencing poverty, compared to 21% of heterosexual women.[1] 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.[12] Thus, gay women in relationships are disadvantaged because their total income is comprised of women's salaries.
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.
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
 | This article or section appears to contradict itself on whether the pay gap is positive or negative. (January 2020) |
Until recently it was thought that gay men made a median of 18.4% less than compared to straight men.[11] A recent study has showed that in the US full-time employed Gay men now earn 10% more than their heterosexual counterparts.[13] 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.[1]
Transgender individuals
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2021) |
Transgender adults are nearly 4 times as likely to have a household income of under $10,000 per year.[1]
See also
Sources
- ^ a b c d "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Persons & Socioeconomic Status". www.apa.org. American Psychological Association. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
- ^ a b Rivas, Jorge. "The gay pay gap: Gays get paid less, lesbians earn more". Splinter. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Gay men now earn more than straight men in the US". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ^ "Arbeitsmarkt: Schwule verdienen weniger als Heterosexuelle". Die Zeit (in German). 2017-08-31. ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
- ^ Holzki, Larissa (2017-08-31). "Schwule Männer verdienen weniger". sueddeutsche.de (in German). ISSN 0174-4917. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
- ^ "Schwule verdienen weniger als Heteromänner – aber warum? – Mannschaft Magazin". Mannschaft Magazin (in German). 2017-09-01. Retrieved 2017-09-01.
- ^ Wade, Matt (2015-02-28). "The gay pay gap: men earn less, but women earn more". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
- ^ "Untitled | Employment Discrimination | Homosexuality". Scribd. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
- ^ "Gay men now earn more than straight men in the US". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- ^ a b "Ignoring LGBT individuals allows the gay wage gap to continue". realchangenews.org. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
- ^ "The Impact of Wage Equality on Sexual Orientation Poverty Gaps". Williams Institute. 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
- ^ 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.