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The labour market outcomes of transgender individuals

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  • Shannon, Matthew

Abstract

This paper uses the 2015 United States Transgender Survey of 27,715 transgender respondents to study the relationship between minority gender identity status and income, employment, and poverty rates. All transgender groups have significantly lower incomes and are more likely to be in poverty, unemployed or working part-time, when compared with men in the American Community Survey. Within the transgender sample, those who were assigned female at birth have significantly lower incomes and are more likely to work part-time than those assigned male at birth. These income results are sensitive to the degree to which respondents have socially transitioned. The younger transgender people transition and the greater their ability to ‘pass’, the more their income profiles reflect that of their gender identity rather than the sex they were assigned at birth. Together, these findings provide descriptive evidence in support of a traditional cisgender income gap, with ‘maleness’ being associated with an income premium in the workplace over ‘femaleness’.

Suggested Citation

  • Shannon, Matthew, 2022. "The labour market outcomes of transgender individuals," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:77:y:2022:i:c:s0927537121000415
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102006
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    Cited by:

    1. Campbell, Travis & Rodgers, Yana van der Meulen, 2023. "Conversion therapy, suicidality, and running away: An analysis of transgender youth in the U.S," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Taryn Eames, 2024. "Taryn versus Taryn (she/her) versus Taryn (they/them): A Field Experiment on Pronoun Disclosure and Hiring Discrimination," Working Papers tecipa-766, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic outcomes; Transgender status; Gender identity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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