How much does this pay? Salary transparency is coming to a job site near you

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See-through salaries

The days of waiting until the end of a job interview to awkwardly ask about pay may soon be behind us, according to job-searching site Indeed.com, as new data reveals that just over 50% of listings now contain prospective salary information — more than triple the proportion seen in early 2019.

That’s the highest share Indeed has ever recorded, which has likely been accelerated by a spate of new wage laws and regulations across the country, with an estimated 44.8 million workers, over 26% of the American labor force, now covered by pay range transparency legislation.

Range life

States with laws that call for at least some level of salary visibility see their regulations reflected in Indeed’s data. Job hunters in Colorado, the first state to implement legislation tackling compensation transparency in 2021, can expect salary info on 81% of Indeed listings, while New York state — where new transparency legislation came into effect on Sunday — saw visibility almost double to 61%, after NYC implemented changes late last year.

Apart from saving time for everyone involved, as well as reducing the asymmetry of information between employee and employer, pay transparency has also been hailed as a way to reduce the gender pay gap.

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