IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v27y2020i6p1378-1401.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transgender labour market outcomes: Evidence from the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Klavs Ciprikis
  • Damien Cassells
  • Jenny Berrill

Abstract

Alternative labour market outcomes for men and women have been studied extensively in past literature. However, existing studies fail to directly compare labour market differences between transgender and non‐transgender people. We utilize data from the 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in the United States to examine employment and wage differentials between transgender persons and non‐transgender people using the Fairlie decomposition method of 2005. Our findings suggest that transgender people are less likely than non‐transgender people to be employed, and are more likely than non‐transgender people to receive lower wages. While some of the difference in employment and wage gaps is explained by sociodemographic characteristics, part of the gap remains unexplained. Approximately 64 per cent of the employment differential and 43 per cent of the wage differential is unexplained and may be due to discrimination. Therefore, our findings highlight the importance of appropriate anti‐discrimination policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Klavs Ciprikis & Damien Cassells & Jenny Berrill, 2020. "Transgender labour market outcomes: Evidence from the United States," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1378-1401, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:27:y:2020:i:6:p:1378-1401
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12501
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12501
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12501?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    2. repec:wly:soecon:v:78:3:y:20121:p:931-953 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2008. "Unequal Pay or Unequal Employment? A Cross-Country Analysis of Gender Gaps," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 621-654, October.
    4. Basit Zafar, 2013. "College Major Choice and the Gender Gap," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(3), pages 545-595.
    5. Jung, SeEun & Choe, Chung & Oaxaca, Ronald L., 2018. "Gender wage gaps and risky vs. secure employment: An experimental analysis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 112-121.
    6. Haaland, Venke Furre & Rege, Mari & Telle, Kjetil & Votruba, Mark, 2018. "The intergenerational transfer of the employment gender gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 132-146.
    7. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Geijtenbeek, Lydia & Plug, Erik, 2015. "Is There a Penalty for Becoming a Woman? Is There a Premium for Becoming a Man? Evidence from a Sample of Transsexual Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 9077, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Hara, Hiromi, 2018. "The gender wage gap across the wage distribution in Japan: Within- and between-establishment effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 213-229.
    10. Christofides, Louis N. & Polycarpou, Alexandros & Vrachimis, Konstantinos, 2013. "Gender wage gaps, ‘sticky floors’ and ‘glass ceilings’ in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 86-102.
    11. White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Reisner, Sari L. & Pachankis, John E., 2015. "Transgender stigma and health: A critical review of stigma determinants, mechanisms, and interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 222-231.
    12. Simonetta Longhi & Cheti Nicoletti & Lucinda Platt, 2012. "Interpreting Wage Gaps of Disabled Men: The Roles of Productivity and of Discrimination," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(3), pages 931-953, January.
    13. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    14. Maasoumi, Esfandiar & Wang, Le, 2017. "What can we learn about the racial gap in the presence of sample selection?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 199(2), pages 117-130.
    15. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kaya, Ezgi, 2019. "Gender wage gap across the quantiles:What is the role of firm segregation?," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2019/7, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    2. Grund, Christian, 2015. "Gender pay gaps among highly educated professionals — Compensation components do matter," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 118-126.
    3. Daniela Piazzalunga & Maria Laura Di Tommaso, 2019. "The increase of the gender wage gap in Italy during the 2008-2012 economic crisis," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(2), pages 171-193, June.
    4. Chzhen, Yekaterina & Mumford, Karen, 2011. "Gender gaps across the earnings distribution for full-time employees in Britain: Allowing for sample selection," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 837-844.
    5. Fuchs, Michaela & Rossen, Anja & Weyh, Antje & Wydra-Somaggio, Gabriele, 2019. "Why do women earn more than men in some regions? : Explaining regional differences in the gender pay gap in Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201911, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. Arceo-Gómez, Eva O. & Campos-Vázquez, Raymundo M., 2014. "Evolución de la brecha salarial de género en México," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 0(323), pages .619-653, julio-sep.
    7. Ramskogler, Paul & Riedl, Aleksandra & Schoiswohl, Florian, 2020. "Swinging female labor demand – How the public sector influences gender wage gaps in Europe," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 302, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    8. Kaya Ezgi, 2021. "Gender wage gap across the distribution: What is the role of within- and between-firm effects?," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-49, January.
    9. Koomen, Miriam & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2022. "Occupational tasks and wage inequality in West Germany: A decomposition analysis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Daniela Piazzalunga, 2018. "The Gender Wage Gap Among College Graduates in Italy," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 33-90, March.
    11. Melanie Jones & Ezgi Kaya, 2022. "The gender pay gap: what can we learn from Northern Ireland? [Women’s labour market participation in Northern Ireland: a re-examination of the ‘traditionalism’ argument]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(1), pages 94-114.
    12. Marie Drolet & Karen Mumford, 2012. "The Gender Pay Gap for Private-Sector Employees in Canada and Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 50(3), pages 529-553, September.
    13. Briel, Stephanie & Osikominu, Aderonke & Pfeifer, Gregor & Reutter, Mirjam & Satlukal, Sascha, 2020. "Overconfidence and Gender Differences in Wage Expectations," IZA Discussion Papers 13517, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Seneviratne, Prathi, 2020. "Gender wage inequality during Sri Lanka’s post-reform growth: A distributional analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    15. Ksenia V. Rozhkova & Natalya Yemelina & Sergey Yu. Roshchin, 2021. "Can Non-Cognitive Skills Explain The Gender Wage Gap In Russia? An Unconditional Quantile Regression Approach," HSE Working papers WP BRP 252/EC/2021, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    16. Tromp, Nikolas, 2019. "The narrowing gender wage gap in South Korea," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Diego Emilio Linthon-Delgado & Lizethe Berenice Méndez-Heras, 2022. "Descomposición de la brecha salarial de género en el Ecuador," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 17(1), pages 1-25, Enero - M.
    18. Greaney, Theresa M. & Tanaka, Ayumu, 2021. "Foreign Ownership, Exporting and Gender Wage Gaps: Evidence from Japanese Linked Employer-Employee Data," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    19. Azam Mehtabul & Han Luyi, 2020. "Accounting for Differences in Female Labor Force Participation between China and India," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-17, April.
    20. Jean-Marc Fournier & Isabell Koske, 2012. "The determinants of earnings inequality: evidence from quantile regressions," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2012(1), pages 7-36.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:27:y:2020:i:6:p:1378-1401. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.