It pays to be gay. This new paper estimates that American lesbians in cohabiting relationships earn 18% more than straight married women, and 27.5% more than straight cohabiting women. Gay men earn 25% more than straight cohabiting men, but slightly less than married men, at least outside the top quartile of earners.
This difference reflects the fact that gays and lesbians are better educated than straights, so it's consistent with discrimination against gays. For lesbians - though not gay men - the return to education seems lower than for straights.
The same seems true in the UK.
Curiously, lesbians do better than straight women if they work in more male-dominated occupations, and do worse in female-dominated occupations.
Possible extra corollary; there's still some discrimination based around possibility of pregnancy & maternity leave; it's possible employers may also perceive a lesbian to be less likely to disappear off and have babies, thus that discrimination is lessened?
That might also explain a bit of the curiosity, female dominated roles less likely to discriminate against women for liklihood of pregnancy.
Posted by: MatGB | July 27, 2007 at 03:12 PM
The usual tiresome shite whereby correlations are said to "explain" things, and "causes" are purportedly revealed. Bah.
Posted by: dearieme | July 27, 2007 at 03:46 PM
This may win the award for "blog post I've emailed to insult various friends" award. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Posted by: Rafael Corrales | July 27, 2007 at 04:39 PM
I think dearieme got it in one.
Obviously, being a parent is expensive. Both career-wise as well as financially.
Posted by: Wolfie | July 27, 2007 at 05:36 PM
It occurs to me that the biggest difference between gays and straights is that straight relationships are asymmetric. Any consistent differences between the sexes will have an effect on the average straight relationship, but none on the average gay relationship.
For example, the average staight marriage may involve an income transfer from a man to a woman, but clearly no gay marriage would.
This would give straight men an additional incentive to earn money, and straight women less incentive to earn money.
I have a theory consistant with the data. It must be true!
Posted by: ad | July 27, 2007 at 07:05 PM
All of which takes me back to September 1980 and my French textbook which featured, amongst other characters, a "young rich uncle" who was never seen with women. Way over my head at the time, obviously.
Posted by: James Hamilton | July 28, 2007 at 10:19 AM
Gay men have better inter personal skills, are more creative, have wider social newtworks and are better dressed than straight men - all assets in the increasingly social workplace. Also gay men are more likely to be left large sums of money by older richer gay men who have no kids.
Lesbians are a complete mystery to me.
Posted by: Matt Munro | July 30, 2007 at 01:06 PM