Due to limited data availability, previous studies have struggled with a trade-off between representativeness and sample size. Couples-based datasets such as population Censuses in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom yield very large samples of same-sex couples but do not identify the sexual identity of non-partnered individuals. In contrast, datasets with individual level information on sexual orientation or sexual behavior have generally been much smaller in size. information on usa rcs data sexual orientation and reasonably large samples of sexual minorities have been limited to single states (e.g., Carpenter 2005), limited to young adults (e.g., Plug and Berkhout 2004), or lacked information on labor market earnings (Carpenter 2008a). As a result, it has been difficult to know whether differences in estimated earnings effects of a minority sexual orientation in different studies are due to differences in the samples, populations, or outcomes. Similarly, it has been difficult to disentangle alternative theories underlying sexual orientation-based differences in labor market outcomes (e.g., specialisation versus discrimination).
Nationally Representative Dataset with Direct information on Sexual Orientation
In one of my latest publications, Sexual Orientation and Earnings – New Evidence from the United Kingdom, my co-authors and I have overcome the data-related challenges by using linked data from confidential versions of the 2012-2014 UK Integrated Household Survey (IHS) and high quality labour market earnings data from the Annual Population Survey. To our knowledge it is the first countrywide dataset with both partnership status and self-identified sexual orientation combined with high-quality data on labor market earnings.