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Title: The Impact of Household Structure on Earnings: The Roles of Marriage, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2004

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Abstract: This paper examines the economic well-being of households headed by same-sex partners relative to households headed by married and cohabiting heterosexuals. Using data from the 1990 Census of Population and Households, Public Use Micro Data 5% Sample (PUMS), we evaluate inter-group differences in absolute and adjusted household income and, using algebraic and regression-based decomposition techniques, assess the contribution to these differences of household human capital and labor market activity. Descriptive analyses reveal that average annual income and the income-to-needs ratio are higher in same-sex households than in households headed by married or cohabiting heterosexuals. The multivariate decompositions indicate that this economic advantage exists even though lesbian and gay male couples reap lower returns to their combined human capital investments and labor market activity.

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Authors: Brewster, Karin; Reynolds, John

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Topics: Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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