Dive Brief:

• Only 29% of job postings disclose salary, an analysis from conference booking site Meetingo found. The company reviewed more than 50,000 Indeed.com postings from a range of sectors and cities. 
• The analysis found the highest transparency in the personal service (76%) and transport (67%) industries. The lowest transparency was in architecture and engineering (18%) and tech (16%).
• Geographically, Colorado had the most salary transparency — likely a result of Colorado's pay transparency law, which requires that job postings include the compensation rate or range. New York (12%) had the lowest transparency, followed by Los Angeles (15%) and Boston (17%).

Dive Insight:

Meeting at the cross-section of compensation demands and DEI goals, salary transparency has been an increasing interest for workers and employers alike. But for most workplaces, interest has failed to translate into a serious commitment.

Providing pay transparency in a job description can often be the first step toward pay equity — a growing movement in the DEI space and more broadly. But there are several reasons employers may not wish to broadcast such information, from maintaining power in negotiation to the more industry-specific concern of becoming vulnerable to poaching from competition. 

Some have opted for a middle ground, sharing the expected pay rate or range with candidates in later stage interviews. Providing this transparency, along with transparency of what a candidate might expect in terms of compensation if they rise upward through the organization, may aid in retention, sources say. Companies that have not done so can begin establishing pay bands with a pay equity audit. 

Some employers have been forced to catch up locally and regionally; such is the case in Colorado, for example, which has the aforementioned statewide law, or in New York City, which in December approved a bill requiring employers to include salary ranges in job listings.

The national patchwork of requirements has coincided with employers' relatively recent adoption of remote work in unexpected and perhaps unfortunate ways for workers and employers alike. Last year, The Denver Post looked into the emerging phenomenon of companies open to remote workers intentionally excluding Coloradan applicants from job listings in an apparent effort to avoid posting salary ranges. 

Employers working across state lines will have to determine which laws apply. The answer may depend on whether the employer already has an employee working in a particular state, one employment law attorney recently told HR Dive.