Job seekers have greater access to information on compensation today than in years past, with salary ranges appearing on nearly half of the jobs posted on one search site.
The portion of U.S. job postings on Indeed.com with employer-provided salary information more than doubled from February 2020 to February 2023, from 18.4 percent to 43.7 percent, according to research out of Indeed's Hiring Lab.
The change is driven by new transparency legislation and the tight U.S. labor market. The 10 most transparent metro markets are in states covered by disclosure laws. Colorado's two largest metros — Denver-Aurora-Lakewood and Colorado Springs — lead the nation. Approximately 77 percent and 75 percent of job listings in those areas, respectively, contain salary information.
Even if states have not enacted transparency laws, those that surround states that do have transparency laws have ramped up the posting of salary information, possibly in an effort to remain competitive. For instance, Utah's three largest metro areas are among the most transparent with pay information in job postings, perhaps a spillover effect from Utah's proximity to Colorado, where disclosure laws have been in place since 2021.
A law requiring New York City employers to include salary ranges in job postings took effect Nov. 1, 2022. California mandated employers with 15 workers or more to include pay scales in job postings, effective Jan. 1, 2023.
One job board watchdog — Comprehensive.io — shows that 63.7 percent of technology companies in California comply with the state's disclosure requirements. That figure is a bit higher in New York City, where 74.5 percent of tech companies comply. The site tracks and updates these percentages daily.
New York City is not yet one of the areas with the greatest portion of job postings containing salary information, but it did see a 137 percent increase of salary-rich job ads from February 2022 to February 2023.
Indeed's Hiring Lab found that of the 20 metros with the lowest pay visibility in postings, 18 are in the South. Job ads out of the McAllen, Texas, area are the skimpiest with salary information.