Early Labor Market Outcomes of Young Adults from Same-Sex Families: Evidence from Population Data

Although most studies suggest that children from same-sex families perform at least as well as children from different-sex families in childhood or adolescence, data limitations have prevented investigation of how children from same-sex families perform in adulthood. Using Dutch longitu dinal tax registers, we offer the first population-based evidence on how young adults from same-sex families fare when entering the labor market after high school. We observe 239,313 young adults who have not enrolled in higher education, of which 605 are from same-sex families. Our results suggest that young adults who lived in a same-sex family perform just as well early on the labor market as young adults from different-sex families. However, we also find considerable differ ences by the time spent in a same-sex family. Young adults raised by same-sex parents from birth are more employed in part-time occupations and more often choose industries dominated by the opposite sex.