Foreword

The OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELS) has been supporting the inclusion of increasingly diverse groups in member countries through its work on gender equality, ageing and employment, the labour market integration of youth, the inclusion of people with disability, or the integration of immigrants and visible minorities. Since 2016, following a Call to Action signed in 2014 by 12 member countries, ELS has been leading the OECD’s work on the inclusion of LGBTI+ people, i.e. lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender and intersex individuals.

With the 2019 edition of Society at a Glance and with Over the Rainbow? The Road to LGBTI Inclusion (2020), the OECD previously explored the socio-economic situation of LGBTI+ individuals and the extent to which laws in OECD countries ensure their equal treatment. In 2023, the OECD published the first country review undertaken as part of the OECD work on LGBTI+ inclusion, to explore legal and policy achievements towards LGBTI+ equality in Germany, at both the national and subnational levels. Another significant study was also released in 2023, based on an innovative randomised control trial in France measuring the effectiveness of school-based interventions in reducing homo- and transphobia.

This new report introduces a country review focused on the economic benefits from creating a level playing field for LGBTI+ individuals. It explores whether achieving greater LGBTI+ equality could lead to a meaningful increase in GDP, even in a country like the United States which has shown an above-average performance with respect to legal and social acceptance of LGBTI+ individuals. The report introduces a novel analytical framework with potential for application to other countries in similar reviews.

The analysis of a unique set of nationally representative microdata reveals that LGBTI+ individuals continue to face considerable disparities in areas critical to individual and societal well-being, including education, employment, and health. Consequently, the economic returns of achieving LGBTI+ equality are substantial. Should the United States succeed in closing the unexplained LGBTI+ gaps in employment and labour productivity by 2050, an increase in GDP equal to 2.6% of the baseline GDP could be expected. This corresponds to a yearly increase in GDP of 0.1%. A more ambitious goal of closing the gaps by 2030 would lead to a higher yearly GDP increase, representing not 5%, but about 10% of the average annual US GDP growth observed between 2013 and 2023.

This report was written by Marie-Anne Valfort and Marc Folch under the supervision of Monika Queisser (Head of the Social Policy Division), and under the leadership of Stefano Scarpetta (Director of ELS) and Mark Pearson (Deputy Director of ELS).

We are extremely grateful to all the United States officials, Jennifer Burnszynski (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation), Jason Dale (U.S. Department of Labor – Office of International Relations and Economic Research), Rachel Floyd-Nelson (U.S. Department of Labor – Office of International Relations and Economic Research), Sheimaliz Glover (U.S. Department of State), Sarah Morgan (U.S. Department of Labor – Office of International Relations and Economic Research), as well as participants of the 47th meeting of the Working Party on Social Policy for providing thoughtful comments on an earlier version of this report. We warmly thank Jonas Fluchtmann (OECD – ELS) and Yvan Guillemette (OECD – ECO) for their guidance on navigating the OECD long-term model, and Emily Hewlett, Gaetan Lafortune, and Doron Wijker (all OECD – ELS) for reviewing our estimates of the benefits of removing the economic and well-being burden of mental health disparities for LGBTI+ Americans. We are also very grateful to Caroline Medina (Whitman-Walker Institute) for her insights on the methodology and findings from the 2022 Center for American Progress survey on LGBTQI+ people. Finally, we thank the Gallup corporation, and notably Jerry Hansen and Kris Hodgins, for their support in accessing the Gallup data. Hanna Varkki prepared the manuscript for publication.

The OECD gratefully acknowledges the financial support by the U.S. Department of Labor towards the preparation of this study.