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Early studies and theory suggest sexual minorities are drawn towards the relative independence of self-employment to avoid discrimination in paid employment. However, recent evidence is mixed, suggesting that a higher propensity for self-employment (relative to heterosexual people) is found only among lesbian women relative to heterosexual women. This study overcomes the data limitations of prior research by using data pooled from 2007-2017 cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) and multivariate logistic regression to provide new evidence on LGB self-employment. The results show that self-employment is particularly high for bisexual people, especially bisexual women--but not for gay men or lesbian women. Overall, this study examines the enduring but nuanced relationship between self-employment and sexual orientation and discusses countervailing factors related to socio-economic resources, gender, and family structure. Des recherches et des theories anterieures suggerent que les minorites sexuelles sont attirees par l'independance relative du travail independant pour eviter la discrimination dans l'emploi remunere. Cependant, les preuves recentes sont mitigees, suggerant que la propension plus elevee a l'emploi independant (par rapport aux personnes heterosexuelles) ne se retrouve que chez les femmes lesbiennes par rapport aux femmes heterosexuelles. Cette etude surmonte les limites des donnees des recherches anterieures en utilisant des donnees regroupees des cycles 2007-2017 de l'Enquete sur la sante dans les collectivites canadiennes (ESCC) et une regression logistique multivariee pour fournir de nouvelles preuves sur le travail independant des LGB. Les resultats montrent que le travail independant est particulierement eleve pour les personnes bisexuelles, notamment les femmes bisexuelles--mais pas pour les hommes gays ou les femmes lesbiennes. Dans l'ensemble, cette etude examine la relation durable mais nuancee entre l'emploi independant et l'orientation sexuelle et discute des facteurs compensatoires lies aux ressources socio-economiques, au sexe et a la structure familiale., INTRODUCTION The self-employed represent roughly 15% of the Canadian workforce and their numbers have grown in recent decades (Vosko & Zukewich, 2006; Yssaad & Ferrao, 2019). Early research on sexual [...]

Since the 1990s, enrolment in postgraduate programs has increased significantly in Canada. In more recent years, this has led to concerns regarding overproduction and the labour market outcomes of those with postgraduate education. Women have played an important role in this growth, but questions remain as to whether women's progress into the highest levels of education has helped ameliorate their wage disadvantage relative to men. Using the 2011 National Household Survey, this study finds large wage premiums for completing master's and doctoral degrees for both men and women, especially in younger cohorts; however, there are important differences by field of study. The gender wage gap is smaller for women with master's degrees than for those with bachelor or doctoral degrees. Occupational differences account for more of the gender wage gap than field of study, suggesting that after degree completion, university-educated women sort into occupations that are lower paid than their male counterparts'.

There is a growing international literature on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. One of the biggest limitations for researchers in this field continues to be the dearth of population-based surveys that include questions on sexual orientation, gender identity, and high-quality demographic, health, social, political, or economic variables. This research note provides an overview of the current LGBT data landscape in Canada. We start with some of the challenges for researchers studying the LGBT community, including issues of sample size, measurement, response bias, and concealment. Next, we provide an overview of Canadian surveys that include questions on sexual orientation and/or gender identity, including the strengths and weaknesses of each. We end with a brief discussion on newly available administrative data and provide recommendations for researchers and policymakers moving forward. Partout au monde, on ecrit de plus en plus sur la vie des personnes lesbiennes, gays, bisexuelles et transgenres (LGBT). L'un des principaux obstacles que rencontrent les chercheurs dans ce domaine continue d'etre la rarete des sondages populaires qui comportent des questions sur l'orientation et l'identite sexuelles et des variables de grande qualite sur la demographie, la sante, la societe, la politique et l'economie. Ces notes de recherche fournissent un survol du paysage actuel des donnees LGBT au Canada. Nous commencons par decrire quelques-uns des defis que doivent surmonter les chercheurs qui etudient la collectivite LGBT, en particulier les questions liees a la taille de l'echantillonnage, aux mesures, au parti pris et a la reticence des repondants. Nous passons ensuite en revue les sondages canadiens qui comportent des questions sur l'orientation ou l'identite sexuelles et pesons les forces et les faiblesses de chacun. Nous discutons enfin brievement des donnees administratives maintenant disponibles et faisons des recommandations pour l'avenir aux chercheurs et aux decideurs., THE LAST THREE decades have witnessed a rapid growth in the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Despite this, far less is known about Canada's LGBT population [...]

This study presents novel evidence on the relationship between sexual orientation and self-employment. Using data from the 2001 and 2006 Census of Canada and the 2011 Canadian National Household Survey, we explore the propensity for self-employment among same- and opposite-sex couples. We examine the demographic, human capital, and family characteristics of coupled gay men and lesbians relative to their coupled heterosexual counterparts to offer potential mechanisms generating differences in rates of self-employment. Our analysis further considers occupational variability in the likelihood of self-employment. We find that gay men are less likely and lesbians more likely than heterosexuals to be self-employed; however, there is significant variation across occupations. Gay men are more likely to be self-employed in arts and culture, sales and service, and natural and applied sciences, but less likely in business, finance, and health-related occupations. Lesbians are much more likely to be self-employed in health-related occupations, natural and applied sciences, and arts and culture. Marriage and having children are significant predictors of self-employment for coupled heterosexual women but not lesbians. Cette etude presente des evidences empiriques concernant la relation entre l'orientation sexuelle et le travail independant. Utilisant des donnees provenant du Recensement du Canada de 2001 et de 2006, ainsi que l'Enquete nationale aupres des menages (ENM) de 2011, nous explorons la tendance du travail independant parmi les couples de meme sexe et ceux de sexe oppose. Ainsi, nous examinons les caracteristiques demographiques, du capital humain et familiales des couples gais et lesbiens par rapport a leurs homologues heterosexuels, afin de demontrer une correlation entre l'orientation sexuelle et la probabilite d'etre travailleur independant--une causation qui nous semble evident et que nous analysons plus en profondeur. Nous concluons d'ailleurs que les hommes gais sont moins probables--et les lesbiennes plus probables --d'etre travailleurs independants que les heterosexuels. Cependant, il existe des variantes significatives entre les differentes occupations. Les hommes homosexuels tendent plutot a etre travailleurs independants dans les domaines des arts et de la culture, la vente et les services, ainsi que les sciences pures et les sciences naturelles. Par contre, ils le sont moins dans les domaines des affaires, de la finance et des domaines relies a la sante. De leur cote, les femmes homosexuelles tendent plutot a etre travailleuses independantes dans les domaines relies a la sante, aux sciences pures et aux sciences naturelles, ainsi qu'aux arts et la culture. Finalement, le fait d'etre marie et d'avoir des enfants sont des indicateurs significatifs du travail independant pour les femmes en couples heterosexuels, mais pas pour les lesbiennes., A BURGEONING LITERATURE CONCERNS the labor market experiences of nonheterosexuals. Much of this research has focused on quantifying and exploring sources of wage gaps between sexual minorities and their heterosexual [...]

There is a growing literature interested in the workplace experiences of transgender individuals. The biggest limitation for researchers in this field continues to be the dearth of population-level data that captures information on gender identity and employment characteristics. Using the 2017 Public Service Employee Survey, this paper explores employment discrimination and workplace harassment against gender diverse (transgender, non-binary, genderqueer) and other minority employees working in Canada's federal public service. This study finds that gender diverse employees are between 2.2 and 2.5 times more likely to experience discrimination and workplace harassment than their cisgender male coworkers. Cisgender women, visible minorities, Indigenous, and those with disabilities are also more likely to report discrimination and workplace harassment. Cisgender women and gender diverse employees who occupy multiple minority statuses may experience an additive likelihood of discrimination and harassment. This study also finds that employee retention can be improved by providing more inclusive and tolerant workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing interest in the labour market outcomes of sexual minorities presents novel methodological and theoretical challenges. In this note, we outline important challenges in the study of wage inequality between sexual minorities and heterosexuals in Canada. We discuss the current state of available data on sexual orientation and economic outcomes in Canada, and further evaluate how estimates of sexual orientation wage gaps differ across earnings definition and sample composition. Our analysis of the 2006 Census shows considerable heterogeneity in point estimates of wage disadvantage across definitions of earnings and sample selections; however, all estimates show that gay men suffer labour market penalties and lesbians experience wage premiums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]