The incidence of self-employment by sexual orientation

• Published in: Small business economics Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 347 - 363
• Main Author: Leppel, Karen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer 01.03.2016; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business and Management; Correlation analysis; Earnings; Employment; Employment discrimination; Entrepreneurship; Ethnicity; Gays & lesbians; Gender; Heterosexuality; Industrial Organization; Labor market; Lesbianism; Male homosexuality; Management; Men; Microeconomics; Occupations; Self employment; Sexual orientation; Sexual orientation discrimination; Single status; Studies; Wages & salaries; Women; Workers; Workforce; Working women; Self-employment; Labor force status; J71; Multinomial logit; Sexual orientation; J22; J15
• ISSN: 0921-898X; 1573-0913
• DOI: 10.1007/s11187-016-9699-8

This study uses data from the American Community Survey to address three questions concerning the relationships between sexual orientation and self-employment. First, does the propensity of self-employment vary with sexual orientation? The study found that the individuals most likely to be selfemployed were heterosexual men, followed by gay men, then lesbians, and lastly heterosexual women. Second, do the impacts of explanatory variables on the odds of being self-employed differ with sexual orientation? Multinomial logit estimation revealed that, in particular, the effects of married and unmarried partners’ income varied with the gender/sexual orientation group. Third, among employed individuals, does incidence of self-employment across occupations differ with sexual orientation? According to the analysis, heterosexual men showed a significantly higher incidence of self-employment than gay men in three occupation categories, while gay men had higher rates in two occupation groups. Lesbians had higher incidences of self-employment in all four occupation categories that exhibited significant sexual orientation differences among the women.