Who Benefits When Salary Info Is Public?

It’s good for pay equity, and it can be good for managers, but it’s not so good for superstars.

This month, laws went into effect in California and Washington State that required companies to post salary ranges on job listings. Like similar rules in New York City and Colorado, lawmakers passed them on the premise that pay transparency helped reduce wage gaps.

There’s little debate among researchers that this is the case. “It is totally 100 percent true across all the studies I’ve seen, with very few exceptions,” Zoe Cullen, an economist at Harvard Business School, said. Pay transparency laws are “very good” at reducing wage disparities, she added.

But that’s not the end of the story. As companies embrace pay transparency — either because the law forces them to, or because their employees are becoming more comfortable disclosing their salaries anyway — both employers and workers have noticed ripple effects. It’s changing how bosses set salaries. And it has the potential to make life a little less lucrative for star performers.

Bet your bottom dollar

Is salary important to workers? Bet your bottom dollar it is.

“Employees will go where the money is. And where they’re treated respectfully and valued. But, mostly, it’s the money.”

When we asked those respondents to choose from a list of top reasons why they’re open to new opportunities, nearly two-thirds (63.4%) selected “I need to make more money”.

That’s more than double the next-most popular reason, which is “I need a fresh challenge” (24.6%).

Work flexibility (20.8%), meaningfulness in work (19.3%) and career advancement (also 19.3%) are other leading factors prompting the drive to explore new job opportunities. Still, those numbers pale in comparison to compensation.

2022 Engineering Salary Statistics

What is an engineering degree worth? Year after year, engineering jobs are paid the highest average starting salary. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) engineers have a median annual wage of $100,640and the engineering field projects to have employment growth of 6 percent from 2020 to 2030—nearly 146,000 new jobs over the next decade.

Poorest states in America

Poverty in America. It’s a concept that shouldn’t be a thing here. I mean we are the richest nation in the world, right? Well, look around today and you’ll see a lot of us are struggling. For many it’s their own fault – lots of us are broke because of decisions we made.

But plenty of Americans live in poverty because of things outside of their control. Perhaps it was a loss of jobs. Or in many cases, it’s the cost of living. Yes, poverty is a complicated issue here in the US. And no matter who is in office, it’s a problem without an end in sight.

Rich Girl vs Poor Girl

This social experiment was done to see how people react differently to a Rich girl and a poor girl.

YouTube comments:

“We’re living in a world where the rich continue to get richer and the poor get poorer.”

“They donated to the rich girl because she was hot, and dressed well.”

“I used to know a homeless man who would beg near a McDonalds. He was a really great person, and I would always donate some money. My dad even bought him a tent. Whenever I was near the McDonalds, I never really saw people who were looking to help him. Maybe they thought it was unimportant because he already had a tent, or maybe they didn’t have money, or they just didn’t want to donate. Eventually he was finally able to find a job (at that McDonalds to be exact) and he was able to sell his tent, add that money to what he had already, and buy himself a car! I haven’t seen him for a few years, but I hope that he is doing better in life.”

USA – Rich vs Poor

Infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality is often not what we think it is.

YouTube comments:

“Campaign finance reform is the solution. Until we elect people who arnt brought and paid for nothing will change.”

Oakland, California Homeless

Oakland California sure does have a homeless problem. Driving around town, there’s homeless encampments all over the place. They’re on the side of the roads in dirt lots. There’s long stretches of them on sidewalks. Some of them are tents, some are RVs, some are actual encampments with makeshift structures where hundreds of people gather in communities.

It’s estimated there’s around 5,000 homeless individuals throughout the city of Oakland, but no one really knows the exact number. And the number of people on the streets in Oakland has nearly doubled in the last two years alone.

Why the inequality gap is growing

For forty years, the U.S.-led global economy has produced an enormous improvement in human welfare. The percentage of the world’s population living on less than $1.90 per day fallings from 42% to 10%.

At the same time, income inequality has surged in countries with advanced economics. Nowhere has it surged more than the United States, where reliance on free-market forces magnifies rewards for those at the top while leaving others behind.