In the second of our series, here’s FORGE’s new fact sheet pulling together key employment-related statistics from the new NCTE/NGLTF study, “Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey.”
Getting and staying on the job
- Transgender and gender non-conforming respondents experienced unemployment at twice the rate of the general public
- Over one-quarter (26%) reported that they had lost a job due to being transgender or gender non-conforming
- MTFs: 36%
- FTMs: 19%
- 47% have experienced an adverse job outcome, “such as being fired, not hired or denied a promotion because of being transgender or gender non-conforming”
On-the-job harassment
- 78% have experienced at least one negative workplace consequence
- 50% have been harassed by someone at work
- 41% have been asked inappropriate questions about their transgender or surgical status on the job
- 7% have been victims of physical violence at work
- 6% have been sexually assaulted at work
- Undocumented noncitizens reported an on-the-job sexual assault rate of 19%
Underemployment
- 44% said they were underemployed
Invisible employees and co-workers
- 28% said none of their co-workers knew they were transgender
- 68% of cross-dressers said no one at work knew they cross-dressed
Documentation
- Of those who have transitioned gender, only one-fifth (21%) have been able to update all of their IDs and records with their new gender
- One third (33%) of those who have transitioned had updated no records
- 41% have a driver’s license/state ID card that doesn’t match their gender identity
- With updated driver’s license: 52% employment discrimination
- Without updated driver’s license: 64% employment discrimination
- 49% of those who have transitioned genders have updated their Social Security records
- 12% of those who have tried to change the gender on their professional license or credential were denied
Bathrooms
- 14% of those who transitioned on the job and kept their job were nonetheless denied access to the correct bathroom
Spouses/partners and children
- 14% reported that due to their gender identity, their spouse or partner experienced job discrimination
- If the transgender person lost their job due to bias, the spouse’s risk of experiencing his or her own job discrimination doubled, to 28%
- 11% reported that due to their gender identity, their child experienced job discrimination
- If the transgender person lost their job due to bias, the child’s risk of experiencing his or her own job discrimination more than doubled, to 25%
Underground economy
- 16% of trans people have worked in the underground economy
- 11% have done sex work (compared to an estimated 1% of all US women)
- 15% of MTFs have done sex work
- 7% of FTMs
- 44% of African-Americans
- 28% of Latino/as
- 6% of those with graduate degrees
- 29% of those who have experienced domestic violence
- 61% of those who have done sex work, drug sales or other underground work “also say that they had experienced discrimination in hiring in the traditional workforce.”
The good news
- The vast majority (78%) of those who transitioned from one gender to the other reported that they felt more comfortable at work and their job performance improved
- Although transgender and gender non-conforming people ages 18-24 are less likely than their peers to be in school, 22% of those ages 25-44 are currently in school (compared to 7% of the same-age general population)
- Survey respondents had a higher average educational level than the general public (47% had a college or graduate degree, compared to 27% of the general population)
