Salary transperency

New York and California are major employment hubs for large corporations, and they wield enormous power when it comes to setting employer standards. This is likely to become popular in the coming year.

On Sunday, new laws requiring employers to post salary ranges on job listings went into effect in California and Washington state, following similar legislation enacted in Colorado and New York.

These laws shift the balance of power in the fraught and mysterious world of pay negotiations, providing job candidates and employees with information that is normally kept private.

Companies in New York City moved quickly to add pay ranges to job listings after the law went into effect in November, though some have been slow to adjust.

According to the company’s data, as of Dec. 4, 61% of NYC listings on Indeed.com included salary information, up from 27% a month before the law change.

According to Kaitlyn Knopp, founder of Pequity, an HR software firm, some companies were afraid to go first for fear of backlash over salary bands that appeared too broad or low.