Does It Get Better? Recent Estimates of Sexual Orientation and Earnings in the United States

Abstract

Using 2013–2015 National Health Interview Survey data, we reproduce a well‐documented finding that self‐identified lesbians earn significantly more than comparable heterosexual women. These data also show—for the first time in the literature—that self‐identified gay men also earn significantly more than comparable heterosexual men, a difference on the order of 10% of annual earnings. We discuss several possible explanations for the new finding of a gay male earnings premium and suggest that reduced discrimination and changing patterns of household specialization are unlikely to be the primary mechanisms.

Sexual orientation, labour supply and occupational sorting in Canada

“…Additionally, Dilmaghani () finds that gay household have higher incomes than both heterosexual and lesbian households. Finally, Carpenter and Eppink (), using 2013–15 data from a US health survey, find an earnings advantage for American gay men.…”

“…This question is important for several reasons. First, a growing literature spanning three decades has been concerned with the possibility of differential treatment toward sexual minorities in the labour market (Badgett, ; Badgett and Frank, ; Carpenter and Eppink, ; Dilmaghani, ; Klawitter, ; Ozeren, ). Recent experimental studies strongly support that sexual minorities face discrimination in the hiring process, even in the contexts where survey data show an income premium for them (Ahmed, Andersson and Hammarstedt, ; Drydakis, ; Tilcsik, ; Weichselbaumer, ).…”

Sexual orientation at work: Documenting and understanding wage inequality

“…Studies published following Klawitter's () review suggest that wage differences by sexual orientation may be evolving (for the United States: Carpenter & Eppink, ; Clarke & Sevak, ; Mize, ; for the United Kingdom: Aksoy, Carpenter, & Frank, ; Bryson, ; for Canada: Cerf, ; Dilmaghani, ; Mueller, ). This challenge primarily comes from studies that use self‐identified sexual orientation, and therefore include people who are single and in partnerships, and categories that separate bisexual from gay and lesbian individuals.…”

Intersections between Sexual Identity, Sexual Attraction, and Sexual Behavior among a Nationally Representative Sample of American Men and Women

“…To conduct research on the LGB population, researchers must make an important decision about the specific measure they choose to use as their indicator of LGB identity. Some studies use self-identification as lesbian, gay, or bisexual as their measure (e.g., Carpenter and Eppink 2017;Cochran 2003); others use reports of same-sex sexual behavior, either recently or ever (e.g., Badgett 1995;Berg and Lien 2002;Black et al 2003); some use reports of same-sex sexual attraction (e.g., Busseri et al 2006); others use reports of same-sex partner cohabitation (e.g., Baumle and Poston 2011;Fischer 2016); and yet others use a combination of one or more of these measures (e.g., Bostwick et al 2010;England et al 2016;Mize 2016). The decision of which measure to use is vital, as past studies show disjunctures between a person's selfdescribed sexual identity and with whom the individual engages in sexual behavior, or to whom the individual is sexually attracted (Epstein et.…”