INEQ organises a research seminar series, which centers on empirical research on the causes and consequences of (socio-)economic inequalities and their measurement, from both micro- and macro perspectives. As INEQ is a multidisciplinary institute, we welcome contributions across social science disciplines.

On March 16th, Maxine Lee (San Francisco State University) will present at the Economics of Inequality Research Seminar. She will discuss the paper "New Evidence on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Earnings: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data".

Abstract

In economics a large literature has studied sexual minorities (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual people) and a smaller literature has studied gender minorities (e.g., nonbinary and transgender people). We are the first to study the employment and earnings intersections of sexual minority status with gender minority status. We link the 2023 New Zealand (NZ) Census – which asked questions about both sexual orientation and gender identity to all adults – to administrative earnings records. These data replicate patterns in the prior literature: sexual minorities earn less than similarly situated heterosexual individuals, and non-cisgender individuals earn less than comparable cisgender men. We report several new findings. First, we document a significant earnings penalty experienced by individuals whose sexual orientation is ‘not elsewhere classified’ (including people who would use the term ‘queer’). Second, we find a large ‘double disadvantage’ in employment and earnings for nonbinary people who are also sexual minorities. Third, we find that failing to control for sexual minority status masks large heterogeneity in transgender men’s earnings penalty. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for sexual minority status in the emerging economics literature on gender minorities, especially nonbinary people.

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