Are Gay Men Really Rich? - Freakonomics
Contents:
- GAY MEN USED TO EARN LS THAN STRAIGHT MEN; NOW THEY EARN MORE
- 4 CUR REASONS GAYS EARN MORE MONEY
- THE HIGH COST OF BEG GAY
- HOW CORPORATNS ARE PROFG OM GAY PRI
- UNEQUAL PAY: THE GAY WAGE GAP
- GAY COUPL MORE EDUTED, HIGHER-INE THAN HETEROSEXUAL COUPL
- ARE GAY MEN REALLY RICH?
- THE GAY BAR: CAN YOU MAKE MONEY NNG ONE?
- HOW TO GET A MAN (FOR GAY MEN)
GAY MEN USED TO EARN LS THAN STRAIGHT MEN; NOW THEY EARN MORE
For 20 years, nearly all the studi on gay men the workplace have found an intil rult: parg the earngs of two men wh siar tn profil, years of experience, skills, and job rponsibili, gay men nsistently earns ls than straight men (between 5% and 10% ls). The stabily of this fdg has been remarkable: has been replited across numero datasets several different untri. Until now. In a recent paper, rearchers om Vanrbilt analyzed data om a major feral survey the Uned Stat that had not prevly been ed this lerature – prumably bee only recently began to ask about sexual orientatn – and found that the gay male earngs penalty had disappeared. * how gay makes money *
For 20 years, nearly all the studi on gay men the workplace have found an intil rult: parg the earngs of two men wh siar tn profil, years of experience, skills, and job rponsibili, gay men nsistently earns ls than straight men (between 5% and 10% ls).
In a recent paper, rearchers om Vanrbilt analyzed data om a major feral survey the Uned Stat that had not prevly been ed this lerature – prumably bee only recently began to ask about sexual orientatn – and found that the gay male earngs penalty had disappeared.
A recent Pew Rearch Foundatn study reported that 92% of all LGBTQ adults felt that society is more acceptg of them than a ago, and 87% of adults report personally knowg someone who is gay or lbian (up om 61% 1993). Enomists and management scholars have been cnchg the numbers on this qutn for over 20 years, and until very recently, nearly all the studi have found an intil rult: if you pare the earngs of two men wh siar tn profil, years of experience, skills, and job rponsibili, gay men nsistently earns ls than straight men (between 5% and 10% ls).
4 CUR REASONS GAYS EARN MORE MONEY
Recent data reflects a rise e for LGBTQ upl. What’s behd this movement toward e equaly? Listen to why gays earn more. * how gay makes money *
In a recent paper, a PhD stunt and I analyzed data om a major feral survey the Uned Stat that had not prevly been ed this lerature – prumably bee only recently began to ask about sexual orientatn – and found that the gay male earngs penalty had disappeared. And not only had disappeared, had turned to a 10% premium, meang that gay men recent years earned substantially more than straight men wh siar tn, experience, and job profil. ” One terpretatn of the lerature’s near-universal prr fdg of a gay male earngs penalty was that was a nsequence of labor market discrimatn agast gay men.
Moreover, a few patterns the lerature support this possibily, cludg the fact that two recent well-ntrolled field experiments failed to fd meangful differenc employment out for fake ndidat whose profil were manipulated to be eher gay or straight (one field 2013 where the ndidate’s profile on a social work se was listed as eher “terted ” men or women, and the other field 2010 where the ndidate’s rume listed a learship posn an LGBT-related stunt group or a non-LGBT-related stunt group).
Another is that although we fd a very different rult than prr work for relative earngs of gay men pared to straight men (a premium vers a penalty), our pann analysis for women found a nearly intil rult to s of published work. Send, bee is clear that workplace dynamics associated wh sexual orientatn are different for sexual mory men than for sexual mory women (rell that there has been nsistent evince of a gay male earngs penalty and a lbian earngs premium for most of the past two s of study), more rearch is need to unrstand the nature of workplace attus regardg sexual orientatn and how the might differ between gay men and lbians. It uld be, for example, that historilly strong associatns between gay men and the HIV epimic ntributed heavily to negative attus toward gay men specifilly and that rctns the views benefed gay men relative to straight men but not lbians relative to straight women.
THE HIGH COST OF BEG GAY
Members of the LGBT muny face unique fancial hurdl. Here's how to handle budgetg, tate planng, cred rd bt and livg expens if you're a member of the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr muny. * how gay makes money *
But fundamental chang fay opportuni and rponsibili brought about by recent natnwi same-sex marriage may be exertg very different fluenc gay male hoeholds than lbian hoeholds, and this changg nature of hoehold specializatn – theorized by Nobel Prize-wng enomist Gary Becker – uld be producg some of the patterns we have documented. A gay male uple who gets married may have one partner select out of the workforce to foc on regivg rponsibili; this might make the other partner more productive at work, rultg relative improvements gay men’s earngs relative to those of straight men. If the relatively lower earng partner systematilly selects out of the labor market, this productivy effect would be pound by a posnal change the sample of relatively higher earng gay men we observe workg.
But documentg that the gay male earngs penalty has not only disappeared but fact has re-emerged as an earngs premium, our rults challenge scholars to unrstand differential workplace experienc of sexual mory men vers sexual mory women and highlight the strong ternnectns between the spher of work and fay for LGBTQ Amerins. This statistic blows my md as my recent post that talked about how married Gay Men and Lbians ma more on average than our straight unterparts. I thk we n all agree that there is nothg fabulo about have achieved marriage equaly, but people still have no ia where to get the bt gay...
Listen for sight on how the genr pay gap giv gay men an advantage and learn how those of who do earn more n e our privilege to promote e equaly for everyone the queer muny. Four years after g out as the first openly gay member of the New York Stock Exchange, Walter Schubert turned his attentn to the ter and ma history aga. Today, Google returns nearly 47 ln search rults for “gay money advice.” There are lbian-n Fancial Inpennce, Retire Early (FIRE) blogs, guis on how to pay for genr affirmatn surgery, and a Queer Money podst wh 260-pl episos.
HOW CORPORATNS ARE PROFG OM GAY PRI
Recent data reflects an apparent rise e for LGBTQ upl. So, what’s behd this movement toward e equaly? Hear why gay men earn more. * how gay makes money *
The chang e not a moment too soon for the timated 18 ln Amerins who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer or reprented by the pl, which nods to a range of other orientatns and inti. When Los Angel CFP David Rae first started as an advisor 2003, for stance, he’d tell clients he was gay as a fense mechanism — so didn't bee a problem when they found out later on. Dpe beg fancial profsnals who had plenty of knowledge about money, they realized their "fancial troubl had roots beg LGBT, " Schneir LGBT acronym means lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr and may be lengthened to clu queer, tersex and asexual inti to the mix.
UNEQUAL PAY: THE GAY WAGE GAP
Targetg the gay muny n make for more, loyal ctomers. * how gay makes money *
But while longevy risk plagu much of Ameri's agg populatn, whether gay or straight, cis- or transgenr, LGBT people often need to save even more to afford their longer liv. It’s also tertg to note that whether we’re married or unmarried and whether we have kids or don’t have kids, studi, cludg the most recent US Cens, show that gay upl are likely to have both partners workg. Gays and lbians who are more nformg or able to -swch may have hidn their inty for years and th were promoted whout beg discrimated agast.
The brand plays up s heterosexual si other ways, as well, like teamg up wh Playboy for Super Bowl people not faiar wh the gay scene, may therefore e as a surprise that Bud Light is a major sponsor of several Gay Pri ftivals takg place across the U. That dience segmentatn is reflected advertisg as recently, "for the most part you would see rporatns producg gay-specific ads and placg gay-specific media, " says David Paisley, senr rearch director of Communy Marketg Inrporated, a gay and lbian market rearch Wells Fargo has been volved pri paras for 20 years, s advertisg appealg to the gay muny featur predomately publitns that are themselv targeted to that muny, as well as tra publitns. Starbucks recently spired a boytt om the Natnal Organizatn for Marriage, an anti-gay-marriage group, when supported legislatn legalizg same-sex marriage says that Wells Fargo is seeg creased mand for more proment gay-targeted ads.
GAY COUPL MORE EDUTED, HIGHER-INE THAN HETEROSEXUAL COUPL
A new study shows that gay upl earn more than different-sex unterparts. * how gay makes money *
So that is certaly somethg that we know and we're hearg om nsumers ourselv, " he the travel and alhol dtri were among the first to target the gay muny, some dtri are draggg their feet, says Darren Cooper, senr nsultant at Out Now Consultg, an LGBT marketg firm. But there's a popular narrative—that gay men are cy-dwellg yuppi wh expensive tast—that perhaps obscur another equaly: the gay-straight wage gap.
A study recently published Genr and Society found that Canada, gay men wh partners earn about 5 percent ls than straight men wh partners, while upled lbian women earn roughly 8 percent more than upled straight women. )Canada’s Gay-Straight Wage GapsWae and Denier | Data: 2006 Cens of CanadaIn the Amerin pay hierarchy, the pattern is the same: Heterosexual men typilly earn more than gay men, who earn more than lbian women, who turn earn more than heterosexual women.
ARE GAY MEN REALLY RICH?
If you're young and sred that you'll lose your fay bee you're gay, make the four money mov for your own fancial secury. * how gay makes money *
)Remend ReadgTheir fdgs—that gay men make ls money than straight men and lbians make more money than straight women—have been monstrated before.
One major review 2007 found that gay and bisexual men earn between 10 and 32 percent ls than siarly qualified heterosexual men, and other studi have found that lbians on average out-earn straight women. Wae and Denier found that gay people were nearly twice as likely to hold a bachelor’s gree than straight people—a level of tn that tends to grant them some of the bt-payg occupatns, such as lawyers, psychologists, and managers. In fact, gay men and lbians were overreprented among the 15 hight-payg the same time, gay people, appears, tend to lean toward jobs different dtri than straight people.
Gay men, for example, are ls likely to go to science or engeerg jobs than straight men; lbians, on the other hand, are ls likely to work the retail dtry. Ined, a 2013 study found that gay people were more likely than straight people to take jobs that were atypil for their the jobs they end up takg, turns out, are where the wage gaps were biggt.
THE GAY BAR: CAN YOU MAKE MONEY NNG ONE?
Gay money is valued at nearly $1 trilln. Are we gettg a good return on our money? Here’s what you n do to help get more ROI on our gay money. * how gay makes money *
That said, there’s a strong se to be ma that gay men are paid ls and lbian women are paid more bee of the bias of those makg hirg and pensatn cisns. Some studi have suggted that gay men receive fewer terview offers and that discretnary wage creas may produce pensatn is another explanatn for the gay-straight wage gap that has been tossed around for more than a . The theory go that bee men earn more money than women, gay men wh partners who also work n unt on havg two sizable paychecks g to their hoehold.
HOW TO GET A MAN (FOR GAY MEN)
For lbians, ’s the reverse: They might be pensatg for havg two female breadwners by strivg for higher was, however, one suatn which the Canadian wage gaps mostly disappeared: when gay people held jobs the public sector. Gay men are still out-earng straight women, and lbians, who may be, as Wae and Denier wre, “perceived as ls feme and closer to the unencumbered male ial, ” also out-earn straight women.