Abstract
Although there are millions of transgender individuals in the world, little information has been collected on them and very little research has been done about their labor force status. This chapter examines that limited literature, looking at the percentages of transgender individuals who are employed, unemployed, or not in the labor force, as well as the factors influencing that labor force status. Unemployment rates and labor force participation rates of transgender samples are compared to the rates for the general populations of Australia, the USA, the UK, and Ireland. The studies that have been done consistently show outrageously high transgender unemployment rates. Evidence also suggests high transgender labor force participation rates; this may be due largely to inability to afford to be out of the labor force, which in turn is due to low income resulting from discrimination. While social norms have moved toward greater acceptance of transgender people, there is a very long way to go. Protections must be in place so that transgender men and women can feel safe coming out of the closet. As more of them do so and others begin to see them as just people, the effect should snowball, making it possible for even more to come out. Individuals and society as a whole have much to gain when all people are able to make valuable contributions to the world.
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Leppel, K. (2020). Labor Force Status of Transgender Individuals. In: Zimmermann, K. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_83-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_83-2
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Labor Force Status of Transgender Individuals- Published:
- 11 January 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_83-2
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Original
Labor Force Status of Transgender Men and Women- Published:
- 28 December 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_83-1