This might be the best news of 2024 🙌

Hey, Hannah here! The past few days have been a total whirlwind. 🌪️ James and I flew to New Orleans on Wednesday to interview female electricians in the IBEW before heading to Dallas to interview Texans at the State Fair on Saturday. 

Four stops down, five to go! Here are our upcoming tour stops. We’d love to see you!

Pay Transparency Is on the Rise 📈

If you’ve watched The Notebook, you might remember the scene when Allie’s family asks Noah about his factory wages. (Fun fact: Noah made 40 cents an hour at a lumber mill in South Carolina in the 1940s—that’s $9.06 when adjusted for inflation). 

Allie’s parents were a lot of things 👀, but one thing they weren’t? Considered rude for asking about Noah’s paycheck. 

Back then, discussing salary wasn’t unusual. It actually wasn’t until the mid-20th century that companies made discussing pay taboo to get away with underpaying workers. 

But we might be returning to our roots. 60% of surveyed employers are now posting pay ranges in job listings—up from 45% just a year earlier, according to a WTW study. 👏

Here are three reasons why companies are reverting to pay transparency—and why this news is worth celebrating: 

1. More states are requiring salary transparency

This is the most obvious one: 15 states, including California, New York, and Maryland as of today (more on that below), now require employers to disclose wage ranges and benefits in job descriptions. Get the full map of pay transparency laws by state here! 

• FYI: 73% of employers said these regulations are the main reason they’re being transparent about pay.

• This is exactly why pay transparency laws are so crucial—because there’s no guarantee employers would disclose pay otherwise. 

2. Candidates have higher standards 

Would you apply for a job if the pay wasn’t listed? 🤔

For an increasing number of people, especially Gen Z, the answer is no. 85% of recent and upcoming grads say they’re not as likely to apply for a job if the company does not disclose the salary range, per Adobe’s Future Workforce Study.  

To avoid missing out on young talent, companies are embracing the transparent way. We’re all for it. 

3. Increased awareness on social media

Lastly, awareness of pay equity is key. That’s where pages like ours (hey 👋) come in. By sharing videos of people’s jobs and salaries, we help people discover their worth and fight for the pay they deserve. 

This social awareness empowers people to demand companies to post salary ranges—and holds them accountable if they engage in shady pay practices. 

This is worth celebrating, but the work isn’t over yet. 

The benefits of pay transparency are significant. If I hadn’t found out the market rate for senior data analysts, I would’ve never learned I was being underpaid by $25,000 at my old job. 

Aside from salary transparency lifting the curtain on pay inequity (and helping to close the pay gap!), it also improves employees’ job satisfaction, trust, and productivity while boosting an employer's reputation. It’s a win-win. 

But our job isn’t done. The majority of US states don’t have pay transparency laws. Until all 50 states have regulations, we won’t ever fully close the wage gap and end all pay inequity.

That’s why we’ll keep doing what we’re doing—while providing as many resources as possible to get you paid what you deserve. 💚

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We went to Massachusetts to ask visitors at The Big E multi-state fair: 

🎤 What do you do for a living? And how much do you make? 

Watch the video below to hear from: 

• A firefighter earning $92,000 a year who shares the hardest part about his job. 

• An ESL teacher with a $90,000 salary who reveals what her dream job really is. 

• An entrepreneur whose business made $1.6 million last year…but isn’t giving himself a salary. 

• Maryland is officially transparent. 👏 Starting today, employers must include wage ranges and benefits in all job postings and provide employees with pay stubs detailing their gross earnings and deductions. 

• Getting paid $10 an hour to sell $18 beers. 🍺 Philadelphia concession stand workers are striking for better pay and healthcare. Despite working at multiple stadiums, their employer, Aramark, counts their hours separately, preventing many from qualifying for health insurance. 

• The tech workforce is getting younger. 🖥️ From 2014 to 2022, the number of tech workers under 25 grew by 9% annually—over 20 times the growth rate of young workers in other fields. That would be great news…if the number of tech employees over 40 wasn’t also shrinking. 

• Your job interviewer is here and they’re…AI? 😶 Fairgo.ai is providing companies with AI avatars to conduct interviews on their behalf. Our POV: If a company can’t invest the time to interview candidates, why should employees invest their time working there?

Thanks for being here! Have you heard about NYC’s latest side hustle? Citi Bike is paying people to redistribute bikes from crowded stations to empty ones—and some are earning up to $6,000 a month. 🤯

Interested? Here’s how to join the Bike Angels program. 🚲

See you next week!