The gender salary gap has remained stubbornly persistent in recent years, despite concerted effort in reducing it.  The reasons for this are plentiful, but new research from Boston University points the finger at an unlikely source.  The researchers argue that banning access, or requests for access, to one’s salary history can be hugely effective in reducing the gender pay gap.

The research reminds us that men outearn women in the United States by around 15%, even after taking account of experience, education, industry, region and so on.  It’s also well known that women take on a greater share of the household duties than men.

“Salary history reveals information about the applicant’s reservation wage”—the wage they are willing to accept—”that might give the employer a bargaining advantage,” the researchers say. “Job applicants currently suffering from discrimination or other inequities might well be willing to accept a lower wage offer than other workers with comparable capabilities.”

While the authors accept that there are many factors at play in terms of wage differentials, and discrimination doesn’t tell the entire picture, they also believe that salary histories form a kind of institutional discrimination that perpetuates any past discrimination that may have occurred.

Salary bans

The uneven introduction of legislation to ban salary histories has meant the researchers could compare both workers and employers with comparable peers who are not covered by the ban.

This analysis revealed a significant rise in the number of recruitment ads where the salary information is listed in counties where a ban was in place.  Similarly, when workers changed jobs in counties where a ban was in place appeared to obtain a salary boost of 5%.  This compares to a traditional increase of just 4% when we move jobs, but the change was most pronounced among women, who earned 8% when they changed jobs.

The researchers counter any suggestion that salary history provides a reliable indication of what someone ‘should’ earn, by suggesting that were this the case, turnover would be far higher than it actually is.

The gender pay gap has been reducing before salary history bans were introduced, highlighting that many factors play a part in this situation.  Nonetheless, the researchers believe their work highlights the value banning salary histories can play, and hope that it will encourage more regions to follow suit.