Amara Omeokwe

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439 appearances 11 recordings 1 series first heard Mar 2020 last heard Dec 2023

Amara Omeokwe’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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WSJ Your Money Briefing · Salary History Ban Benefits Women, African-Americans · 18 Jun 2020 podcast

hiring managers and human resources departments are effectively acting in a way that perhaps perpetuates discrimination. matched

Now, they may not be biased or racist, but because they have these practices in place that look at salary history and then use that to determine what they should offer an applicant, they may be inadvertently perpetuating these sorts of inequalities. matched

So it is not a national law, but several states and local jurisdictions have passed some sort of salary history ban. matched

The exact nature of the ban will vary depending on the location. matched

But Massachusetts in 2016 became the first state to pass such a ban. matched

And since then, we've seen several other states and local jurisdictions follow suit. matched

First, it takes away the bargaining power from the employer and kind of puts power back in the hands of an applicant, right? matched

Because if the employer knows how much you've made, they can use that to sort of determine what to offer you when they give you a job offer. matched

And so it kind of puts bargaining power in the hands of the employer. matched

The other thing that economists I spoke to said is that if you are part of a group that has faced historical discrimination in the labor market, and because of that, you've been paid less than perhaps your peers or comparable workers, an employer can use your wage history to kind of perpetuate those inequalities. matched

So it's a way of making sure that the playing field is level as people are in negotiations for how much they should be paid. matched

When salary history bans go into effect, it has a considerable benefit for African-Americans and women who are changing jobs. matched

So the study basically found that African-Americans who were covered by a salary history ban, when they were changing jobs, they saw an increase in pay that was 13 percent higher matched

than comparable workers who were not covered by a salary history ban. matched

And women also saw a relatively greater increase in pay than women who were not covered by a salary history ban. matched

The lead author on this study said that the research would suggest that salary history bans could be a way to address wage gaps. matched

Again, going back to the idea that if you think about minorities and women as people who have faced discrimination in the labor market, eliminating the ability of employers to look at this one factor could ensure that there is more fairness for the wages that they get in new jobs. matched

The lead author on this study said that hiring managers and human resources departments are effectively acting in a way that perhaps perpetuates discrimination. matched

So one thing that the researchers note is that the study was conducted using data that was compiled during a relatively strong labor market. matched

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