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Salary History and Employer Demand: Evidence from a Two-Sided Audit

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  • Amanda Y. Agan
  • Bo Cowgill
  • Laura K. Gee

Abstract

We study how salary disclosures affect employer demand using a field experiment featuring hundreds of recruiters evaluating over 2,000 job applications. We randomize the presence of salary questions and the candidates' disclosures for male and female applicants. Our findings suggest that extra dollars disclosed yield higher salary offers, willingness to pay, and perceptions of outside options by recruiters (all similarly for men and women). Recruiters make negative inferences about the quality and bargaining positions of nondisclosing candidates, though they penalize silent women less.

Suggested Citation

  • Amanda Y. Agan & Bo Cowgill & Laura K. Gee, 2025. "Salary History and Employer Demand: Evidence from a Two-Sided Audit," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 380-413, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:380-413
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20230365
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas S. Dee, 2005. "A Teacher Like Me: Does Race, Ethnicity, or Gender Matter?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 158-165, May.
    2. Francine Blau & Peter Brummund & Albert Liu, 2013. "Trends in Occupational Segregation by Gender 1970–2009: Adjusting for the Impact of Changes in the Occupational Coding System," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 471-492, April.
    3. John List, 2020. "Non est Disputandum de Generalizability? A Glimpse into The External Validity Trial," Artefactual Field Experiments 00711, The Field Experiments Website.
    4. Laura Giuliano & David I. Levine & Jonathan Leonard, 2009. "Manager Race and the Race of New Hires," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(4), pages 589-631, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. James Bessen & Erich Denk & Chen Meng, 2024. "Perpetuating wage inequality: evidence from salary history bans," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(3), pages 709-733, September.
    2. Taiyo Fukai & Keisuke Kawata & Mizuki Komura & Takahiro Toriyabe, 2025. "The wage-mismatch index: A new indicator of labor demand in the job search market," Discussion Paper Series 296, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University.
    3. Balgova, Maria & Tekleselassie, Tsegay & Hensel, Lukas & Witte, Marc J., 2025. "Wage Information and Applicant Selection," IZA Discussion Papers 18220, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Mitchell Hoffman & Christopher T. Stanton, 2024. "People, Practices, and Productivity: A Review of New Advances in Personnel Economics," NBER Working Papers 32849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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