How Colorado’s Pay Transparency Law Is Enticing New Workers

Last year, Colorado enacted the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a law that requires employers to share salary ranges on job postings. 

Although the implementation of this legislation has had an impact on job openings, new research from Recruitonomics shows that it may have boosted job interest in the state.   

During the first year of the transparency law, daily job postings on Indeed dipped by 8.2% compared to Utah as some out-of-state companies enacted their own policy barring Colorado residents from applying for jobs, according to the July analysis. 

Utah was picked as a control for sharing similar demographics and economic environment to Colorado. 

However, there was also a 1.5% increase in workforce participation compared to Utah. 

While the researchers do not directly attribute salary transparency to increased participation, it does show that residents in the state were more willing to work compared to levels seen in Utah. Plus, previous analysis shows that employees are largely in favor of these types of policies. 

“Employers willing to incur the cost of putting their cards on the table and stating the salary range will probably see more job-seekers and less competition,” said Andrew Flowers, coauthor of the report and research director at Recruitonomics.