No salary ranges could mean no applicants

• Key Insight: Uncover how market competition is driving employers to disclose salary ranges without legal mandates.
• What's at Stake: Employers who withhold salary ranges as job seekers actively filter out their job postings.
• Forward Look: Get ready for a shift away from delaying salary conversations until the final interview.
  Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

With more workers demanding salary transparency, keeping pay under wraps is becoming an increasingly outdated practice. 

According to a recent report of thousands of job postings across the U.S. from workplace insights platform Monster, 60% of workers said they won't apply for a job if the salary range isn't listed. However, even the industries that are most transparent about pay like tech and retail include salary information in only about 1 in 5 job postings. As applicants and employees alike place increasing emphasis on compensation, leaders are starting to fully understand the need to meet those demands. 

"Back in the day, salary was usually taboo to talk about," said Vicki Salemi, a career expert at Monster. "Candidates were told not to talk about pay until the last stage of the interview process. But I think we're headed in the right direction away from that and I consider that progress." 

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Despite a strong legislative push to make pay transparency standard practice — with 18 states already requiring salary disclosure in job postings, according to HR management and software company Paycor — that's not the primary factor driving organizations to be more open about pay. Instead, Monster's report found that market competition is increasingly fueling pay transparency, with many employers in cities without disclosure laws voluntarily including salary ranges to attract talent. 

The data supports that shift, Salemi said. Job seekers are increasingly eliminating roles that don't include salary information before they even submit an application.

Attracting talent isn't the only advantage, Salemi added. Pay transparency also helps organizations hire faster and more efficiently, meaning employers that withhold salary ranges risk putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

"It helps streamline the process because candidates have already seen or had access to that range, so there are no surprises," Salemi said. "As the conversation evolves and continues to the offer stage, then they can really get into specifics quicker and more efficiently." 

Read more: The art of turning compensation conversations into trust-building moments

Backlash is the enemy of transparency

While salary transparency offers clear advantages, it also requires organizations to face scrutiny if their pay ranges don't align with the market. But according to Salemi, the solution is straightforward: pay employees fairly. While doing so may require a greater upfront investment, the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term costs. By being transparent about pay from the start of the hiring process, employers can build trust with both prospective and current employees while remaining competitive in the talent market. 

And while pay transparency laws have helped drive adoption in some states and cities, experts say employers shouldn't view salary disclosure as simply a legal obligation, but as a competitive hiring strategy.

"They're thinking in old school terms — if it ain't broke, don't fix it," Salemi said. "But this data is showing that it is broken. Expectations are shifting, employer behavior should be, too."