What is the trans unemployment gap – and what we can do about it?

Words by Emily Cameron

“I started Transpire Talent to close the trans unemployment gap, which is currently double that of the cisgender population,” says Lucia Blayke, of Transpire Talent. The founder of Europe’s first trans recruitment agency is citing a 2021 report from McKinsey & Co that found that trans people were twice as likely as cis people to be unemployed. This is worrying not simply on the level of the clear discrimination at play, but in terms of the other challenges trans people face in their lives. 

Stonewall found that 25% of trans people have experienced homelessness, the years-long waiting lists for healthcare with the only alternative being costly private medicine, the cost of treatments not covered by the NHS even after the ordeal of the waiting lists. For Blayke, the sulphur ion is simple. “Stable employment and wage equity for the trans community will bring down rates of homelessness and people who can't afford access to health care,” she explains. With such vast and far-reaching consequences, the fight for employment equity is undoubtedly one of the most crucial facing the trans community.

Some of the best research on UK trans employment rates and discrimination at work, comically, was conducted by the Women and Equalities Department of our very own Tory government in 2018, under the guidance of the Ex-Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt (she didn’t die, she just lost her seat), who you’ll remember had her Tory party leadership bid torpedoed by the revelation that she had once had the audacity to briefly support trans people *gasps*. 

In the 12 months prior to the National LGBT Survey 35% of trans women and 43% of trans men had had zero paid work (there was no data on non-binary people) and of those in work, 60% earned less than £20,000 a year. But when you start to look at other statistics around trans people in workplaces, they start to explain each other. Like Stonewall’s finding that 1 in 8 trans people have been attacked at work – could perhaps be a factor in deterring trans people from looking for work. Unfortunately, yes, this is the conversation we’re having. 

In 2021, Totaljobs found that 33% of trans people had experienced discrimination in an interview or application process, which has relatively self-evident impacts on employment rates. It also found that 32% of trans employees had experienced discrimination at work, which includes being passed over for a promotion, and that 43% had quit a job because of an unwelcoming environment.. “Trans people often don't progress within companies, and they don't achieve promotions, which also explains why trans people earn less than their cis counterparts,” says Blayke. When you go on to consider the media circus around employment tribunals like Sandie Peggy and Dr Beth Upton’s current dispute and the famous Maya Forstater case (in which it was decided that her right to make disparaging comments about trans people on the internet was a protected belief under the Equality Act) the possibility defending your right to be respected at work in the court of public opinion is a potentially terrifying ordeal. 

All of this is to say that, due to what they’re up against, it’s likely that trans people both can’t get, and are often reluctant to look for work, and the two facts reciprocally inform each other. 

On the employer side, there is a fear of not knowing enough, and potentially becoming bogged down in a debate that they’re otherwise not a part of. In businesses she works with, Blayke has found that they “want to do as much as they can to help the trans community. They just don't necessarily know how or have had the right kind of assistance so far.” The work is to provide under-resourced allies with the tools they need to feel confident in hiring a trans person. Media attention plays a major role in stoking fears that current employees might be unwelcoming of trans people. Transpire’s role is to dispel those fears and reassure employers by reminding them of trans people’s right to work free from harassment, and simply point out that the reason for all the media attention is that that case is the only one. 

Transpire Talent‘s experience with businesses has reflected a widespread desire to not be pulled into false narratives around trans people and to take advice on board. “It's honestly been incredible. All of our partners are really inclusive and really want to do as much as they can to help the trans community, they just don't necessarily know how or have had the right kind of assistance so far.” As with any relationship, talking about the issues is the solution – getting concerns out in the open and navigating them together is how we move past things. What’s more difficult is distinguishing between an unfounded concern and unlawful discrimination. 

Concerns that a trans person will need time off for surgery are more reasonable (likely, in fact), but the problem is that to deny a trans person employment on the basis of any of this reasoning, reasonable or not, is unlawful.

Fortunately the law is quite clear when it comes to all of these things: “It does not matter whether or not a harasser intended their behaviour to be offensive – the effect is just as important,” reads the UNISON Trans Equality Factsheet. “Harassment does not have to be targeted at a particular person who is known or thought to be trans. It is enough that transphobic language, imagery, ‘jokes’ or actions violate a person’s dignity or create a hostile environment.” But it’s all very serious, and doesn’t, I don’t think, help with calming anyone’s nerves around the issue. 

This is where Transpire Talent enters the equation. They work on both sides of the recruitment process, to clarify concerns on both parties:

“We do a lot of consultancy to help organizations design policies for trans employees at work. You know, things like paid leave for getting your gender reassignment surgeries and things that employers might not have thought about. And then we also offer our Allyship Academy program, which is for all employees to learn how to become trans allies. We like to get our workplaces ready to have trans people in the workplace before we put trans people in there.”

This has a twofold positive effect – it prepares the employer for how to operate a trans inclusive workplace by providing frameworks and clarity on the rights of a trans person in the workplace, and equally creates an environment that will feel more secure and welcoming for the trans person entering the job. 

The other side of their work is working directly with trans people looking for work, preparing them for interviews, soothing any anxieties, and reassuring them from the perspective of working with the employer who is looking to hire them. “We help trans people with CV preparation, interview preparation, office wear, we offer workshops to help trans people feel a bit more confident about themselves and believe in themselves,” says Blayke. “In this political climate, trans people can internalise a lot of society’s transphobia.”

It’s the work of breaking down a stand off between employers who are anxious about taking on trans people and trans people who are anxious about stepping into the unknown of a new workplace, when really, they both have so much to gain. Financial stability can be a godsend to trans people whose lives can be unusually expensive, and the unique insight of someone from one of the most marginalised groups in society could be invaluable to any businesses. 

For the trans community in general, Blayke sees employment as a way of combating the distorted media attention we receive. “Putting trans people into normal, everyday roles and allowing trans people to contribute back to society will help the general public have a better perception of the trans community.” For businesses, it’s more and more clear that inclusivity is something that consumers are increasingly looking for: “Gen Z are proven to invest in brands and organisations that align with their moral and political beliefs,” says Blayke. “To stay in line with a consumer base that's becoming more Gen Z and more LGBTQIA+, organisations and brands do need to stay on the right side of the trans movement.” She also points out that that same McKinsey study found that increased trans workplace inclusion could “boost annual consumer spending by $12 billion.”

The situation with trans employment right now is far from perfect, but it's also entirely fixable. It’s a quagmire of misconceptions and misplaced anxieties, but the solution is undoubtedly to talk about these worries and work through them. We’ve all felt like good little instagram Marxists reading the words “Dream job? I do not dream of labour,” but it feels a little different when you don’t even have the option. I don’t dream of labour but I do dream of things like nice cookware, yearly holidays, fresh food, being able to afford the things in the posts I like on instagram, having a car (let alone learning to drive), not living in guardianships and warehouses, and, my god, dare I say it, one day owning a home. I don’t think these are unreasonable dreams. But unless I missed Labour’s announcement of an extremely generous Universal Basic Income we’re going to need jobs if we want any of those things. It’s not complicated: trans people deserve the same opportunities in life as everyone else and the unemployment gap currently denies them that. Sadly, and I know this might be hard to hear, we can’t all be DJs.