Gay Men Now Earn More On Average Than Straight Men

Quartz at Work reports:

It’s a well-documented fact that lesbians, on average, make more than straight women—what economists have taken to calling the “lesbian premium.” Equally established is that gay men earn less than straight men, dubbed the “gay penalty.”

Until recently.

Two Vanderbilt economists, Christopher Carpenter and Samuel Eppink, linked self-reported sexual orientation with earnings for employed US adults in the 2013-15 National Health Interview Surveys. They found that gay, full-time employed men made, on average, 10% more than similarly employed straight men. The difference in pay persisted even when they controlled for a variety of factors: presence of a partner, the sexual orientation of a partner, race, age, ethnicity, and the size of one’s firm and family.

Their analysis showed a lesbian pay premium of about 9%, too, similar to earlier studies. Bisexual men and women, however, were not so lucky, earning less than both their gay and straight counterparts.

See the full story here, including who on average makes the most and the least.