Measuring the effect of self-reported sexual orientation on earnings: evidence from the general social survey

Abstract

This study uses General Social Survey (GSS) data to explore the difference in earnings between gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual individuals. The most recent GSS surveys have data on self-identified sexual orientation, providing an opportunity to explore its role as a determinant of earnings with more accuracy than previous estimations in the literature relying on sexual history or cohabitation status to determine sexual orientation. Results show no significant difference between gay or bisexual men and straight men. For bisexual women, the results show a penalty of 20.8% in relation to heterosexual women which is not explained by human capital, demographics, or job characteristics. For lesbian women, the results show no significant earning difference in comparison to heterosexual women. These findings provide evidence that potential issues of misclassification resulting from using proxies to determine sexual orientation deserve careful consideration.