Gay Pay in the UK

Abstract

This paper attempts, for the first time for the UK, to analyse the earnings of homosexuals and test for the possible existence of sexual orientation discrimination by using decomposition analysis. Homosexuals are identified as individuals living with ‘same‐sex partners’. Gay men and lesbians in our sample both earn more on average than non‐gays. However, we find that the decomposition indicates that homosexual men may be subject to discrimination in pay, in the sense that they earn less than heterosexual men with similar characteristics would earn, and therefore they may be more likely to benefit from UK legislation.