Trend of employers posting pay ranges rises nationally
NEW YORK — U.S. employers are increasingly posting salary ranges for job openings, even in states where it’s not required by law, according to analysts with several job search websites.
After new legislation in New York City, California, Washington, Colorado and elsewhere, employers across the country are becoming more transparent about pay to stay competitive with companies in states that require employers to post salary ranges, experts say. A tight labor market and increase in remote work have also contributed to the rise.
The number of U.S. job postings that include salary information more than doubled between February 2020 and February 2023, from 18.4 percent to 43.7 percent, according to a new report from job search site Indeed.
Salary visibility is lowest in the southern U.S., which accounted for 18 of the 20 least transparent metro areas, and highest in the western part of the country, which tends to have more regulation.
Advocates say it’s a trend that benefits women and people of color, who statistically fare less well in hiring talks.
Rather than placing the responsibility on the job seeker or employee to determine how their pay compares with co-workers’, and what fair compensation might be, the laws shift that expectation to the employer.
Kate Bahn, chief economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, says that means employers have less of an upper hand in determining pay. Laws that forbid employers from asking potential hires about salary history in recent years do similar work.
In 2021, the median pay for full-time women workers was about 83 percent of men’s pay, according to federal data, and women make less than their male counterparts in nearly all fields.
Black women make 64 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-hispanic men, according to a report by the National Partnership for Women and Families. Latina women make 54 cents and Native American women 51 cents.
“Companies that are not necessarily in locations that now have laws — they’re disclosing that information anyway,” said Vicki Salemi, a career expert at job site Monster. “It’s becoming more of the norm because job seekers are expecting it.”
She called the new laws a “game-changer” in reducing the taboo around discussing pay.
The New York law is also proving illuminating for some employees who weren’t necessarily looking for new jobs.
Kimberly Nguyen, 25, a UX copywriter in a contract role at Citigroup, noticed a job posting for a comparable role, but as a full-time employee with a significantly higher salary range. She shared it with her fellow contracted copy-writers and tweeted about it. The group brought it to their managers to try to negotiate for higher pay. Nguyen said they’re still waiting.
“They told us it’s out of their hands, and there’s nothing they can do,” she said. “The managers said they hadn’t even realized the job had been posted.”
A spokesperson for Citigroup said that Citi pays the contracting company that employs Nguyen a market-competitive rate for their services and that the contractor negotiates individual pay rates. The spokesperson said Citi is hiring for a fulltime role for an employee with five to eight years of experience, more than Nguyen has, and the salary range reflects that.
Nguyen’s experience shows the limits of pay transparency in a highly contracted workforce. For now, she says she’s looking for full-time roles with higher pay at other companies, while still advocating for pay increases for contracted workers at Citi.
“It’s a hill I’m willing to die on, but I also have to pay rent,” she said.