The labor market and educational effects of gender transitioning in Sweden

The project´s primary purpose is to increase the understanding of labor market and educational effects of gender transitioning on Swedish adults and youth whilst considering two theoretically specified contexts giving rise to oppression: one focused on gender and the other on being transgender. The project comprises four parts, including six studies spread across four years.

The first part explores the short and long run labor market impact of gender transitioning. The second part focuses on how starting gender transition as a minor affects educational attainment.

The third part evaluates how the abolishment of the sterilization requirement affected the propensity to go through transition and the life of transitioning.

In the fourth part, we triangulate the results from all studies to develop a conceptual model of the socio-economic impact of gender transitioning, taking the two contexts of oppression into account.

We use register data covering the full population of Sweden 1973-2020 and identify transgender persons as those who have received a gender dysphoria diagnosis. We will use regression approaches tailored to each study, such as difference-in-differences and event study design.

Contrasting the outcomes of transgender persons using multiple comparison groups of cisgender persons, we will present a more nuanced picture of the effects of transitioning. We have already applied for data for the project and done initial work on limited data to assess population sizes.