IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17377.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Nonbinary Gender Identities and Earnings: Evidence from a National Census

Author

Listed:
  • Carpenter, Christopher S.

    (Vanderbilt University)

  • Feir, Donn. L.

    (University of Victoria)

  • Pendakur, Krishna

    (Simon Fraser University)

  • Warman, Casey

    (Dalhousie University)

Abstract

The social and legal recognition of nonbinary people—those who do not exclusively identify with traditionally male or female genders—is growing. Yet, we know little about their economic realities. We offer the first nationally representative evidence on the earnings of nonbinary people using restricted-access 2021 Canadian Census data linked to tax records. We find that, although nonbinary individuals tend to be more educated than their peers, they have significantly lower earnings, especially at the bottom of the income distribution, even after adjusting for various demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Carpenter, Christopher S. & Feir, Donn. L. & Pendakur, Krishna & Warman, Casey, 2024. "Nonbinary Gender Identities and Earnings: Evidence from a National Census," IZA Discussion Papers 17377, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17377.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    2. Donna Feir, 2013. "Size, Structure, and Change: Exploring the Sources of Aboriginal Earnings Gaps in 1995 and 2005," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 39(2), pages 309-334, June.
    3. Patrick Kline & Evan K Rose & Christopher R Walters, 2022. "Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers [“Teachers and Student Achievement in the Chicago Public High Schools,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 137(4), pages 1963-2036.
    4. Geijtenbeek, Lydia & Plug, Erik, 2018. "Is there a penalty for registered women? Is there a premium for registered men? Evidence from a sample of transsexual workers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 334-347.
    5. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    6. Nicole M. Fortin, 2019. "Increasing earnings inequality and the gender pay gap in Canada: Prospects for convergence," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 407-440, May.
    7. Alexander Bick & Adam Blandin & Richard Rogerson, 2024. "Hours Worked and Lifetime Earnings Inequality," Working Papers 2024-024, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    8. M. V. Lee Badgett & Christopher S. Carpenter & Maxine J. Lee & Dario Sansone, 2024. "A Review of the Economics of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(3), pages 948-994, September.
    9. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Lee, Maxine J. & Nettuno, Laura, 2022. "Economic Outcomes for Transgender People and Other Gender Minorities in the United States: First Estimates from a Nationally Representative Sample," IZA Discussion Papers 15116, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Christopher S. Carpenter & Maxine J. Lee & Laura Nettuno, 2022. "Economic outcomes for transgender people and other gender minorities in the United States: First estimates from a nationally representative sample," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(2), pages 280-304, October.
    11. Christopher S. Carpenter & Samuel T. Eppink & Gilbert Gonzales, 2020. "Transgender Status, Gender Identity, and Socioeconomic Outcomes in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 573-599, May.
    12. Nicole M. Fortin, 2019. "Increasing earnings inequality and the gender pay gap in Canada: Prospects for convergence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(2), pages 407-440, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luca Fumarco & Benjamin Harrell & Patrick Button & David Schwegman & E Dils, 2020. "Gender Identity, Race, and Ethnicity-based Discrimination in Access to Mental Health Care: Evidence from an Audit Correspondence Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 28164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Nettuno, Laura, 2024. "Gender identity, labor market outcomes, and socioeconomic status: Evidence from Chile," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Maéva Doumbia & Marion Goussé, 2021. "Gender identity and relative income within households: Evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(4), pages 1667-1683, November.
    4. Enzo Brox & Riccardo Di Francesco, 2024. "The Cost of Coming Out," Papers 2403.03649, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    5. Taryn Eames, 2024. "Taryn versus Taryn (she/her) versus Taryn (they/them): A Field Experiment on Pronoun Disclosure and Hiring Discrimination," Working Papers tecipa-766, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    6. Kamal, Mustafa & Blacklow, Paul, 2021. "Australian age, period, cohort effects in the gender wage gap - 2001 to 2018," Working Papers 2021-02, University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics.
    7. Klavs Ciprikis & Damien Cassells & Jenny Berrill, 2024. "Transgender self-employment outcomes: evidence from the USA," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 871-896, October.
    8. Cieplinski, André & D'Alessandro, Simone & Dwarkasing, Chandni & Guarnieri, Pietro, 2023. "Narrowing women’s time and income gaps: An assessment of the synergies between working time reduction and universal income schemes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Cozzi, Guido & Francesconi, Marco & Lundberg, Shelly & Mantovan, Noemi & Sauer, Robert M., 2018. "Advancing the economics of gender: New insights and a roadmap for the future," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 1-8.
    10. Dreber, Anna & Heikensten, Emma & Säve-Söderbergh, Jenny, 2022. "Why do women ask for less?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Kessel, Dany & Mollerstrom, Johanna & van Veldhuizen, Roel, 2021. "Can simple advice eliminate the gender gap in willingness to compete?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 138, pages 1-1.
    12. Carlos Madeira, 2022. "The double impact of deep social unrest and a pandemic: Evidence from Chile," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 135-171, February.
    13. Estefanía Galván, 2022. "Gender Identity and Quality of Employment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(354), pages 409-436, April.
    14. J. Michelle Brock & Ralph De Haas, 2023. "Discriminatory Lending: Evidence from Bankers in the Lab," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 31-68, April.
    15. Friedman-Sokuler, Naomi & Senik, Claudia, 2020. "From Pink-Collar to Lab Coat: Cultural Persistence and Diffusion of Socialist Gender Norms," IZA Discussion Papers 13385, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Cortes, Patricia & Pan, Jessica, 2016. "Prevalence of Long Hours and Skilled Women's Occupational Choices," IZA Discussion Papers 10225, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Barigozzi, Francesca & Cremer, Helmuth & Roeder, Kerstin, 2020. "Having it all, for all: Child-care subsidies and income distribution reconciled," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 188-211.
    18. Guida Ayza Estopa, 2024. "Return-to-work policies for disability insurance recipients: The role of financial incentives," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2024 17, Stata Users Group.
    19. Sarah, Rosenberg, 2024. "Revisiting the Breadwinner Norm: Replicating Bertrand, Kamenica, and Pan (2015)," Working Papers 2024:10, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    20. Karademir, Sencer & Laliberté, Jean-William & Staubli, Stefan, 2023. "The Multigenerational Impact of Children and Childcare Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 15894, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    nonbinary; transgender; gender minority; earnings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17377. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.