Sexual orientation and labor market outcomes

Abstract

Despite anti-discrimination laws in some countries, gay and lesbian employees encounter serious job market barriers. They report more harassment and less job satisfaction than heterosexual employees, and gay men earn less than comparably skilled and experienced heterosexual men. Good employer-employee relations are shown to increase job satisfaction for gay and lesbian employees. Government can help through campaigns promoting respect and equality of treatment in the workplace and by publishing annual data on progress toward equality objectives. Firms should evaluate recruitment and promotion policies to ensure equality of opportunity and should address incidents of harassment. ELEVATOR PITCH Studies from countries with laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation suggest that gay and lesbian employees report more incidents of harassment and are more likely to report experiencing unfair treatment in the labor market than are heterosexual employees. Both gay men and lesbians tend to be less satisfied with their jobs than their heterosexual counterparts. Gay men are found to earn less than comparably skilled and experienced heterosexual men. For lesbians, the patterns are ambiguous: in some countries they have been found to earn less than their heterosexual counterparts, while in others they earn the same or more. KEY FINDINGS Cons Fewer than 20% of countries have adopted sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws in employment, and 2.7 billion people live in countries where being gay or lesbian is a crime. Gay men receive lower earnings than their male heterosexual counterparts. Gay and lesbian employees have lower job satisfaction than their heterosexual counterparts. All qualitative studies suggest that gay and lesbian employees are more likely to be harassed by work colleagues than are their heterosexual counterparts.

School‐Age Bullying, Workplace Bullying and Job Satisfaction: Experiences of LGB People in Britain

“…Support is very important for LGBT employees due to the unique stressors they experience (Huffman et al, ). It is expected that the existence of an LGBT group in the workplace could improve the visibility and experiences of its members by establishing anti‐discrimination and anti‐bullying policies and procedures (Huffman et al, ; Drydakis, ). On the basis of these patterns, we formulate the following as the fourth hypothesis related to the existence of an LGBT group in the workplace and workplace bullying:

Hypothesis 4.

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“…In addition, openness about one’s sexual orientation in the workplace has been found to positively affect job satisfaction (Huffman et al, ; Drydakis, ). We suggest that firms that have LGBT groups might foster openness (Drydakis, ). On the basis of the patterns presented, we formulate the following as the seventh hypothesis, related to the existence of an LGBT group in the workplace and job satisfaction:

Hypothesis 7.

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“…Moreover, studies on sexual orientation minority individuals’ job satisfaction are scarce. Factors that are associated with sexual orientation minorities’ job satisfaction are of importance, given the increased number of employees who are self‐identified as gay, lesbian and bisexual (Drydakis, ). Furthermore, this study examines how the existence of sexual orientation minority groups in the workplace moderates workplace bullying and job satisfaction.…”

The Earnings Effect of Sexual Orientation: British Evidence from Worker‐Firm Matched Data

“…Ahmed et al. , ; Carpenter ; Drydakis ; Elmslie and Tebaldi ; Klawitter ; Martell ), but lesbians earn more than their heterosexual counterparts (e.g. Ahmed et al.…”

“…Some research also showed that there is a substantial pay gap between gay and lesbian workers and their heterosexual counterparts even in countries such as Canada, Sweden, Australia, and the Netherlands with established gay rights legislation (Drydakis ). The size of these estimates, however, varies widely, and some even found there are no differences in earnings between LG persons and their heterosexual counterparts (e.g.…”