Best way to get paid as a gay man

Pawel Adrjan is a member of the Research Advisory Board at Open For Business, an organisation whose report is mentioned in the article. The wage gaps that exist between men and women and between white and black people have received a lot of attention in recent years.

Interestingly, it works in two different directions: most studies show a wage penalty for gay men but a wage premium for lesbian women compared with their heterosexual counterparts. Studies and surveys have also shown a negative wage gap for bisexual and also for transgender peoplethough the evidence is much more limited, particularly for transgender people.

But if the numbers above reflect a broad average, why do such differences arise? One possible explanation is the work choices that gay people make. Research suggests gay men are more likely to avoid occupations that are more male-dominated than other men which includes the best paid jobswhile lesbian women are more likely to avoid female-dominated occupations than other women which are typically worse paid.

Lesbians may also earn more because they tend to work longer hours. But why do gay people enter different professions? It may be because they make different educational choices. A key question is whether these differences in wages and choice of employment are driven by prejudice, or whether they are the result of some innate, work-relevant traits of gay people related to their preferences or skills.

If gay men are paid less because of prejudice, then society is not making the best use of their skills and productivity.

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This would be economically inefficient and would hold back output, because it would suggest that gay men are not making the contribution that they could. But recent research using various methods has certainly found that discrimination is a key driver. I will highlight three examples.

First, research from Australia has shown that gay and lesbian workers choose to enter occupations with fewer prejudiced workers, with male-dominated occupations more likely to feature discrimination. Second, in a research experiment in the US, participants were asked to evaluate CVs.

Discrimination against gay people is a global issue. Contrasts among countries are wide. One approach is to estimate the lost productivity due to discrimination among gay people, based on research from countries where such data are available. These estimates can then be applied to the GDP of other countries.

At the high end, the estimated cost to the Romanian economy is between 0. Moreover, these estimates only represent direct costs of exclusion. One thing that this report does not consider is the potential negative effects of inclusion. For instance, could higher participation of gay people in the workforce actually deter prejudiced heterosexual people from, say, working as productively, or even working at all?

There are two reasons why this is unlikely. First, several studies on the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the US have found no effect on different-sex couples, including no impact on the probability of whether they are employed. More inclusive laws led to more tolerant views — not the opposite.

One explanation is that equality laws confer legitimacy toward sexual minorities — and attitudes adjust in response. If so, and given the potential economic benefits, it is another reason why greater inclusion is worth pursuing. Beyond the level of individual countries, this could also bring benefits for the global economy.

Edition: Europe. Pride and prejudice. Pawel AdrjanUniversity of Oxford.