11-19-2025
Boston University School of Law researchers examined new data on whether salary history bans mitigate discriminatory hiring practices and published their findings - the answer was “Yes.” As of 2025, nearly half of U.S. states and many cities have enacted laws that ban employers from asking an applicant’s salary history. Nationwide, women earn approximately 83 cents for every $1.00 earned by a man. As this statistic reflects, in many cases, a woman’s salary history will reflect notably lower pay than that of her male counterpart. When employers use disparate salary histories as the basis for an employment offer, women continue to be at a disadvantage that perpetuates throughout their careers, mounting over time and further widening the pay gap.
The BU researchers concluded that evidence shows that salary history ban laws work. Women hired in jurisdictions with salary history prohibitions earned significantly more than newly hired women in other jurisdictions - 7.8% more. In fact, the bans helped all job seekers, with new hires earning 7.9% more in localities that prohibit asking for salary history, compared to a 3.9% increase in areas without them.
Researchers have noted that these bans also appear to decrease racial wage gaps. Non-white workers who switched jobs where salary history questions are prohibited, experienced a 7.8% wage increase and an overall 5.8% pay increase. The researchers theorize that of all groups studied, newly hired workers are expected to benefit the most from the salary history bans.
Employers should track salary history bans in their regions and consider whether modifying hiring practices related to salary history is suitable for their goals, despite a lack of such laws and ordinances in their respective areas.