Job Market
Roz Brown, producer/reporter, California News Service, a bureau of Public News Service.
A majority of American adults express support for policies that protect transgender people from discrimination, but many in the trans community still struggle to find a job. About 2.1 million American adults identify as transgender, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute.
The Pew Research Center says the political climate has changed many people’s views on transgender issues. However, 56% of adults still support policies aimed at protecting them from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces.
“We’re not looking for a free handout,” said Toni Newman, who chairs the board of directors at California’s TransCanWork and assists some 100 trans individuals every month in finding employment. “We’re not looking for anything else but what every other American needs – is economic and financial security in 2026.”
Newman said TransCanWork seeks out companies willing to hire qualified transgender folks and then encourages them to post an open position on the nonprofit’s job board. She noted that they do not try to change a company’s culture to be more accepting, but rather act as an intermediary service to help trans people find jobs, achieve economic security, and maintain a healthy life.
Transgender workers report unemployment at twice the rate of the population as a whole, and many who are currently working say they’re underemployed.
Newman said some people, including those responsible for hiring within their companies, have never met or interacted with a transgender person, and that’s where TransCanWork can lend support.
“We offer training – ‘we know this is new for you, we appreciate you being willing to hire TGNC individuals’,” Newman said. “So, we’re open, we’re not so, – ‘Ugh, we can’t work with you’ – because a lot of people need education.”
Newman’s group is the only one in the country to offer a national job board that helps employers and potential employees connect. She said she believes creating a gender-diverse culture in the workplace has benefits.
“Diversity, having someone from various backgrounds, makes for a very robust corporate structure,” Newman said. “If everybody is the same, looks the same, walks the same, talks the same – how do you get new ideas? How do you grow?”
California has several new laws aimed at strengthening existing protections for transgender individuals, focusing on refugee status, health-care access, and privacy.
