The U.S. Census Bureau released data showing that people in same-sex marriages, particularly women, were more likely to be a part of the labor force than those in opposite-sex marriages. There were also key differences between the two groups in employment and labor force characteristics.
Nationally, 84.6 percent of people in same-sex married couples were in the labor force, a somewhat higher rate than the 80.4 percent of opposite sex married couples.
When looking at the general statistics, these differences might not be as clear cut.
83.2 percent of same-sex married women and 71.4 percent of opposite-sex married women were a part of the labor force. This difference remained significant across all racial and ethnic groups of same-sex married women and their opposite sex married counterparts.
On the other hand, same-sex married men participated less in the labor force than opposite-sex married men with a rate of 86.2 percent and 90.0 percent respectively.
Same-sex married men were also more likely to be unemployed. Unemployment rates of same- and opposite- sex married women were not found to be statistically significant.
The findings were published on tables that contain one-year data collected by the American Community Survey in 2019.
The contents of the table include selected employment and labor force characteristic estimates for spouses and householders in both same- and opposite-sex married households, for civilians between ages 16-64.
Though some states and metro areas differed from the national averages, they were not statistically significant differences.
By: Hannah Ramsey
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