If you want to make a bundle of money, the sure bet is to be a straight, white, married male. That’s just a fact of life. But can you guess the next best thing? Answer: Being lesbian.
That’s essentially the finding of Marieka Klawitter of the University of Washington who analyzed 29 studies on earnings and sexual orientation. Reports The Economist about Klawitter’s research:
On average, [the studies] found a 9% earnings premium for lesbians over heterosexual women, compared with a penalty of 11% for gay men relative to straight men. This discrepancy has been borne out by research on America, Britain, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. Even after adjusting for the fact that lesbians are on average more educated than straight women, and less likely to have children, the gap persists.
