Pay Gaps in the National Health Service: Observability and Disclosure

Karen Mumford (), Edith Aguirre (), Anna Einarsdóttir (), Bridget Lockyer (), Melisa Sayli () and Benjamin A. Smith
Additional contact information
Edith Aguirre: ISER, University of Essex
Anna Einarsdóttir: University of York
Bridget Lockyer: University of York
Melisa Sayli: University of Surrey
Benjamin A. Smith: Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

No 14482, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Studies of the relationship between sexual orientation and pay have faced difficulties applying standard models of discrimination if orientation is not observable. Analogously, behavioural explanations of pay based on models of gender linked within-household specialization may not be as relevant in a nonheterosexual context. This article analyses pay gaps using information including earnings, gender, LGB identity, coupling status, and the disclosure of sexual orientation in English National Health Service (NHS) workplaces. The results reveal a robust gender pay gap of 4% in favour of males, but no overall LGB pay gap compared to heterosexuals. The latter is due to similar-sized offsetting effects from disclosure on LGB pay relative to comparable heterosexuals. Amongst LGB employees, disclosure is associated with 13% more pay, with three quarters of this gap related to unexplained differences in returns to observable characteristics. Supportive workplace practices are strongly associated with increased probability of disclosure, especially the availability of a LGB workplace network.

Keywords: disclosure; gender; LGB; NHS; pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J31 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2021-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-lab
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp14482.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14482

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().