The 2012 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey includes data from more than 1,000 people. The survey found that lesbians earn 33 percent more than heterosexual women, but they also work 20 percent more hours, University of Melbourne's Mark Wooden said, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
"One explanation for the increased earnings and longer work hours of lesbians might be that this group are less likely to have children than heterosexual women," Wooden told the Daily Mail. Twenty-two percent of lesbians, ages 30 through 49, had children three years ago, per the HILDA Survey, whereas 60 percent of heterosexual women were mothers.
Gay men earn 20 percent less than heterosexual men and the gap only got wider for gay men who lived with a partner. Being "out" isn't a wage issue for gay women who live with a significant other. Women in a same-sex domestic partnership still reported higher wages than those without a partner.
"We found that the wages of gay men are growing at a much slower rate than the wages of heterosexual males," Wooden told the Daily Mail. "Gay males who are most likely to be observably gay by employers - those who live with a same-sex partner - face larger earnings penalties than those who are discreet about their sexuality."
If wage gaps and workplace discrimination weren't enough, the report stated that "gay men are 16 percent less likely to be employed and are substantially more likely to have several periods of joblessness than heterosexual men."
Many factors can cause an individual's joblessness, but Wooden told the Daily Mail that, "employer discrimination is likely a major part of the explanation for these wage gaps, especially in the case of gay men."
