Wage Inequality Between Homosexual And Heterosexual Male Employees-A Quantile Decomposition Approach

Income inequality has always been a hot topic in the field of labor economics.However,most of the research is based on gender wage inequality or race wage inequality.Seldom of the research focuses on sexual orientation wage gap.In fact,workers from LGBT(Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual and Transgender)group are in a relatively disadvantageous position in this society.Thus,they are more likely to face discrimination.In the labor market,there is also possibility that they will be discriminated due to their sexual orientation.It is of vital significance to study the real working condition of LGBT people.In order to investigate the point characteristics and trends of the sexual orientation wage inequality,this paper considers sexual orientation wage inequality as research object and is conducted in the following analysis.(1)Summarizing the relevant literatures on sexual orientation wage gap in the United States.(2)Conducting a primary descriptive analysis on wage inequality in terms of different sexual orientation.(3)Estimating the sexual orientation wage equations at different periods through unconditional quantile regression to explore the extent of different working productivity characteristics and different individual personal characteristics contributing to income.(4)Analyzing the sexual orientation income differences in the mean and quantile level,based on Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and quantile decomposition,thus finding the relevant factors that influence the wage gap.(5)Proposing suggestions about how to moderate the sexual orientation wage gap.The main conclusions are as follows.(1)There is a decreasing trend of the sexual orientation wage gap.Results of 2011-2014 show that homosexual male employees receive a little more than heterosexual male employees;(2)Discrimination against homosexual employees still exist.The extent of discrimination is even larger for high income homosexual employees.They are less likely than their heterosexual counterparts to gain more in labor market.(3)Education plays a positive role in moderating the sexual orientation wage gap.