Examining Poverty, Work and Mental Health in LGBTQ+ Communities
January is National Poverty Awareness Month, and the College of Social Work would like to take this time to recognize one of its faculty members whose expertise lies in addressing poverty and how it specifically impacts LGBTQ+ populations.
When people think about poverty, they often imagine a lack of money. But poverty is also about instability, exclusion and the everyday stress of trying to survive in systems not designed for everyone. For many LGBTQ+ people, poverty is not a temporary setback. It is a structural condition shaped by adverse experiences in early life, discrimination in employment, gaps in social welfare systems, and profound impacts on mental health. This is the complexity that Dr. David Kinitz’s research aims to better understand to improve labor market and economic outcomes for LGBTQ+ people.
Kinitz’s research examines how poverty is produced and sustained among LGBTQ+ populations, with particular attention to employment quality, access to social welfare programs and mental health outcomes. Rather than focusing on individual behavior or choice, his research centers the role of labor markets, public policy and social exclusion in shaping economic vulnerability.
“Poverty is not just about low income,” says Kinitz. “It is about instability, exclusion and the constant effort required to survive in systems that were not designed to be inclusive.”
Employment plays a central role in Kinitz’s research. While employment is often assumed to protect individuals from poverty, many LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately represented in low-wage, unstable or precarious jobs. A quantitative study by Kinitz found that lesbian, gay and bisexual workers were approximately three times more likely than cisgender heterosexual workers to be precariously employed. These positions may involve unpredictable schedules, limited worker protections, few benefits and heightened exposure to discrimination. Qualitative studies Kinitz conducted illuminated how transgender and gender-diverse people, bisexual people, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ people of color are especially likely to face barriers to stable, affirming employment.
Even when LGBTQ+ people are employed, poor job quality can undermine economic security and health. Workers may feel pressure to conceal their identities to avoid harassment and/or job loss, while others experience chronic stress due to job insecurity or unsafe working conditions. Over time, these experiences accumulate, contributing to both economic precarity and poorer mental health. Kinitz’s research has illustrated the cyclical nature of mental health issues that are exacerbated by and exacerbate poor employment outcomes.
“Having a job does not always mean having economic security,” he adds, “especially when work is unstable, underpaid or unsafe.”
Access to social welfare programs is another critical dimension of this work. In the United States, eligibility for many public benefits is tied to employment status, income thresholds or household composition, criteria that often fail to reflect the realities of LGBTQ+ people’s lives. A current project Kinitz has underway found that people working in precarious or gig-based jobs may earn too much to qualify for Medicaid assistance but too little to meet basic needs, keeping them in poverty and/or forcing them into the informal economy where exploitation and discrimination is common. Others may avoid seeking benefits due to fear of discrimination, prior negative experiences or uncertainty about whether systems will be adequate to address poverty or health needs.
Mental health is deeply intertwined with these structural conditions. LGBTQ+ people experience higher rates of depression, anxiety and psychological distress, driven largely by chronic exposure to stigma, discrimination and economic insecurity. Poverty intensifies these stressors, while mental health challenges can also make it more difficult to maintain employment or navigate complex social service systems.
“Economic insecurity and mental health are not separate issues,” says Kinitz. “They reinforce one another across the life course.”
A defining feature of Kinitz’s research is his use of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, drawing on large-scale quantitative data as well as in-depth qualitative interviews. This integration allows for a more comprehensive understanding of how structural forces shape everyday experiences of work, poverty and health. Importantly, qualitative narratives center the voices of LGBTQ+ people themselves, illuminating both the harms produced by inequitable systems and the resistance strategies communities use to survive when formal supports fall short.
Poverty Awareness Month invites reflection not only on who experiences poverty, but why. Addressing LGBTQ+ poverty requires policy solutions that improve job quality, strengthen worker protections, expand access to inclusive social welfare programs (e.g., Medicaid), and recognize mental health as a social and economic issue, not an individual failing.
“Poverty, and specifically the disproportionate rates of poverty among systemically marginalized groups, is not inevitable,” says Kinitz. “It is shaped by social attitudes and policy decisions. Therefore, we need active efforts to change social attitudes and policy that will begin to address LGBTQ+ poverty.”
Through research, teaching and community engagement, this work aims to inform policies and practices that move beyond survival toward dignity, stability and equity for LGBTQ+ people.
Select further reading:
Kinitz, D. J., Salway, T., Kia, H., Ferlatte, O., Rich, A. J., & Ross, L. E. (2022). Health of two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people experiencing poverty in Canada: a review. Health Promotion International, 37(1), daab057. LINK.
Kinitz, D. J., Shahidi, F. V., & Ross, L. E. (2023). Job quality and precarious employment among lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers: A national study. SSM–Population Health, 24, 101535. LINK.
Kinitz, D. J., Ross, L. E., MacEachen, E., Fehr, C., & Gesink, D. (2024). “… full of opportunities, but not for everyone”: A narrative inquiry into mechanisms of labor market inequity among precariously employed gay, bisexual, and queer men. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 67(4), 350–363. LINK.
Kinitz, D. J., Ross, L. E., MacEachen, E., & Gesink, D. (2025). ‘How can you worry about employment and survival at the same time?’: employment and mental health among precariously employed cisgender and transgender sexual minority adult men in Toronto, Canada. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 27(7), 884–899. LINK.
Kinitz, D. J., Shahidi, F. V., Kia, H., MacKinnon, K., MacEachen, E., Gesink, D., & Ross, L. E. (2025). Precarious employment: A neglected issue among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 22(1), 376–392. LINK.
Kinitz, D. J., Tran, N. K., Shahidi, F. V., Maslak, J. T., Flentje, A., Lubensky, M. E., … & Lunn, M. R. (2025). Associations of minority stress and employment discrimination with job quality among sexual- and gender-minority workers. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 51(3), 214. LINK.
