• Western
• Social Science
• Sociology
• People
• Faculty
• Sean Waite

Photo by Cliff Davidson

Sean Waite, Associate Professor

Undergraduate Chair, Sociology
PhD, Sociology, McGill University

Sean Waite is a sociologist whose research explores how gender and sexual orientation shape human capital acquisition, occupation and industry choice and earnings in Canada. He is currently working on a collaborative project that combines quantitative, qualitative and experimental research methods to study the employment experiences and outcomes of Canada’s LGBTQ community. Sean also examines returns to higher education, with a particular interest in the labour market outcomes of Canada’s doctoral graduates.

Areas of Specialization

Selected Publications

• Pajovic, Vesna, Sean Waite, and Nicole Denier. 2023. "Sexual orientation and self-employment: New evidence." Canada Review of Sociology
• Waite, Sean, Vesna Pajovic, and Nicole Denier. 2020. "Lesbian, gay and bisexual earnings in the Canadian labor market: New evidence from the Canadian Community Health Survey." Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 67: 100484.
• Waite, Sean. 2020. "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Employment Discrimination and Workplace Harassment against Transgender and Other Minority Employees in Canada’s Federal Public Service." Journal of Homosexuality DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2020.1712140.
• Waite, Sean, John Ecker, and Lori E. Ross. 2019. "A systematic review and thematic synthesis of Canada’s LGBTQ2S+ employment, labour market and earnings literature." PLOS One 14(10): e0223372.
• Smith, Michael Robert and Sean Waite. 2019. "Occupational demand, cumulative disadvantage, and gender differences in the early career earnings of university graduates: Evidence from Canada’s National Graduate Survey." Canadian Journal of Sociology 44(2): 165-194.

News

Study: Sexual orientation plays part in pay gap

Social Science faculty receive nearly $4-million in SSHRC funds