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Labor market outcomes for transgendered individuals
Yes economists study this too:
We use the workplace experiences of transgender people – individuals who change their gender typically with hormone therapy and surgery – to provide new insights into the long-standing question of what role gender plays in shaping workplace outcomes. Using an original survey of male-to-female and female-to-male transgender people, we document the earnings and employment experiences of transgender people before and after their gender transitions. We find that while transgender people have the same human capital after their transitions, their workplace experiences often change radically. We estimate that average earnings for female-to-male transgender workers increase slightly following their gender transitions, while average earnings for male-to-female transgender workers fall by nearly 1/3. This finding is consistent with qualitative evidence that for many male-to-female workers, becoming a woman often brings a loss of authority, harassment, and termination, but that for many female-to-male workers, becoming a man often brings an increase in respect and authority. These findings challenge the omitted variables explanations for the gender pay gap and illustrate the often hidden and subtle processes that produce gender inequality in workplace outcomes.
Here is the article. I'm not so sure this solves the identification problem, since it ends up looking at atypical individuals (those who switch to female may not be the same personality types as those who switch to male). But, on this topic, what do I know?
I thank Zuzanna for the pointer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on September 28, 2008 at 07:41 AM in Data Source | Permalink
Comments
In Thailand, the results may be the opposite.
Posted by: Yan Li at Sep 28, 2008 9:13:23 AM
You write
"But, on this topic, what do I know?"
Please, can you explain us what criteria you apply to determine what topics you know or at least you don't know? I've been reading your blog for some time, and so far I've not been able to determine them.
Posted by: E. Barandiaran at Sep 28, 2008 10:56:02 AM
It may not solve the identification problem, but just look at the preponderance of the evidence. I'd say we'd have to inside a higher P value to the possibility of widespread discrimination being a major factor in the gender gap.
Posted by: Robert Olson at Sep 28, 2008 11:01:06 AM
It may be that male-to-female transgendered suffer the double injury of women being valued less, and men being expected to take criticism more in stride.
Posted by: anonymous_coward at Sep 28, 2008 11:07:31 AM
One of the limitations of this research that I did not find mentioned in the full article was the fact that MTF/FTM workers might have stayed at their previous jobs/positions after their gender change. If this is the case, then their employers/colleagues would have interacted with them with the knowledge that they are MTF/FTM as opposed to non-transgender males and females. In essence, this independent variable ambiguity weakens the conclusions of the research.
Posted by: Dennis Shiraev at Sep 28, 2008 11:44:49 AM
dennis: I may be mistaken, but i believe table 2 model 1 represents 'no change' in job; i.e., they kept the same job after the transition, and the change in income for this group was not significant for neither male-to-females nor female-to-males.
my problem with the research is separating the discrimination based on the gender and discrimination based on attitudes towards trans-gendered persons. The researchers address this problem in the section 'Is It Gender or Appearance?' and argue that their past surveys indicate males-to-females are discriminated against because their peers think that being female will somehow decrease their human capital, but I don't find their evidence very compelling. I think this study shows (or at least suggests) that society is more accepting of young females changing to males more than it suggests that the gender pay gap is a reflection of discrimination towards females.
Posted by: at Sep 28, 2008 12:22:11 PM
Dennis Shiraev,
I would expect discrimination against the transgendered to swamp discrimination against women, so I think it's a pity that they don't address that, but to hold that and get these results, you'd need to believe that MTF keep their jobs, while FTM find new ones. It's not entirely implausible, since FTM are younger, but it's a stretch.
Posted by: Douglas Knight at Sep 28, 2008 12:32:01 PM
12:22:11,
I believe you are mistaken both in the claim that model 1 involves no change of job and that it is less significant. Table 2 claims that model 1 has p<.001, model 2 p<.01, model 3 p<.05.
But I definitely can't read these tables. The text claims that model 3 shows a larger penalty, while the table looks to me like a smaller penalty. Model 3 attempts to control for type of job, if "transgender people are adapting to workplace appearance discrimination by switching to job types that are less discriminatory."
Thanks for pointing out "Is It Gender or Appearance?" In particular, it is more difficult for MTF to pass. I say throw out that half of the data.
Posted by: Douglas Knight at Sep 28, 2008 12:59:05 PM
FTM show a "slight increase" in pay, which could easily be the result of becoming happier with themselves and better-adjusted psychologically - people who are happy and self-confident do better than those who are not.
Most MTF transexuals have a hard time "passing", and as Douglas Knight and blank at 12:21 points out above, are likely to suffer disrimination for being transexual, rather than for being female.
Posted by: Anthony at Sep 28, 2008 1:25:46 PM
Also not mentioned is the fact that people fundamentally change when they undergo gender reassignment therapies. I don't know where it is now, but I remember listening to an episode of This American Life and being shocked at the sort of intellectual, emotional, and personality changes that come about after a woman starts taking testosterone.
Posted by: Rationalitate at Sep 28, 2008 2:24:00 PM
To Yan Li:
I am interested in the transgender topics in Thailand, please, could you give more information us or connections with information on the matter much would be thanked for.
Posted by: Angélica Díaz at Sep 28, 2008 11:32:05 PM
C'mon, taking vast amounts of sex hormones changes your "human capital" strikingly. Look at Ken Caminiti, who started taking big blasts of steroids in the middle of the 1996 baseball season and suddenly transformed himself into the league's Most Valuable Player (and was dead a few years later). Or look at Andrew Sullivan, whose career was in the doldrums until he got a prescription for testosterone in the 1990s, which relaunched his career as a self-confident pundit (as he described at length in his 2000 NYT Magazine "The He Hormone).
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Sep 29, 2008 7:07:03 AM
