Want to get paid more than your colleagues? The key, apparently, is to be a lesbian.

A new study has showed a person’s sexual orientation affects how much they earn, and while it’s good news for the lady-loving woman, it’s not for gay men.

In the US alone, the pay premium rises to 20% for lesbians compared to straight women while gay men can expect to be paid 16% less than straight men.

Commissioned by the World Bank and the economic research institute IZA World of Labor, gay women get 15% more in Canada, 11% in Germany and 8% more in the UK. Gay men can expect 12%, 9% and 5% less in those respective countries.

The researchers have claimed, in an instance of mass overgeneralizaton, that lesbians are less likely to require flexible working needs and maternity leave than straight women.

‘Lesbians may realise early in life that they will not marry into a traditional household,’ said Dr Nick Drydakis, a senior economics lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and the author of the report.

‘Lesbians may be willing to make a series of career-oriented decisions, such as staying in school longer, choosing a degree that is likely to lead to a higher paying job, and working longer hours,’ and they ‘tend to self-select into male-dominated occupations that may offer higher salaries.’

Dr Drydakis claims openly gay men in the workplace ‘may upset conventional assumptions about gender, and so their contributions to the firm and their leadership abilities may not be properly evaluated and they can be overlooked for promotions.’

Gay women though, may be perceived as having the masculine traits so their higher earnings may also reflect discrimination that happens to work in their financial favor.

While openly gay and lesbian workers are more likely to report higher job satisfaction, the survey also found they were more likely to be harassed.

Fewer than 20% of countries have adopted sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws in employment, and 2.7 billion people live in countries where being gay or lesbian is a crime.