Lesbians Make More Money Than Straight People While Gays Make Less – Sexual Orientation Has Deep Impact On Earning Potential Shows Study

A new study appears to have conclusively shown that lesbians are the richest people among working individuals.

According to a recently concluded study entitled “Sexual orientation and labor market outcomes,” lesbians seem to be earning better than any other group of people. However, the situation is quite the opposite for gay men. According to the study published by IZA World Labor, lesbians are 8 percent richer than straight people, whereas gay men are 5 percent poorer than their straight counterpart in terms of career status.

Nick Drydakis, the lead researcher for the study, revealed that sexual orientation has a direct effect on one’s job satisfaction, communication with colleagues, and earning capacity as well. The study, published on December 14, is perhaps the only one so far that explicitly explores the correlation between sexual orientation and its effects on careers, reported the Mirror.

The study had multiple insights, one of which indicated that it was imperative for the employees to accept their sexual orientation early on. In other words, gay men and lesbians who accepted their sexuality were more likely to experience high job satisfaction than those who hid in their own shells. Apart from job satisfaction, even the longevity of the career satisfaction could be directly connected with the number of years the gays and lesbians have been open and honest about their sexual orientation.

Moreover, employers needed to be forthcoming about their acceptance of gays and lesbians to achieve higher work morale in the office. In simpler terms, employers who were open about their opinions and acceptance of gays and lesbians managed to cultivate employees with exceptionally good work attitude. However, this still doesn’t explain why lesbians were the ones who made better money than straight or gay men.

Drydakis had some pretty straightforward explanations for the same. He justified that lesbians seem to have the tendency to realize that they are not going to marry and so expenses from traditional household is spared. Moreover, lesbians are very much capable of living independently and hence quite easily choose a career path based on their own, with no intervention from the opposite sex and his life goals.

Despite the positive outlook, the study also unearthed some disturbing facts about gays and lesbians at the workplace. The study indicated that only 20 percent of the countries surveyed seemed to openly adopt openness to sexual preference. In terms of sheer numbers, 2.7 billion people across the globe still suffer from discrimination. They are still considered to be criminals who are committing a crime by being a homosexual.

“All qualitative studies suggest that gay and lesbian employees are more likely to be harassed by work colleagues than their heterosexual counterparts.”

The researcher did suggest that the fight for being treated equally for lesbians and gays is certainly a long-drawn one. Only with sustained campaigns supported by governments as well as the companies will the gays and lesbians be able to work in an emotionally and financially healthy workplace.

[Image Credit: Female Bread Winners]