Salaries on job ads: Why not every good idea should be a law

Mandating salary transparency is another burden for employers to bear, and is no silver bullet for fair pay, writes Jay Bhayani Should every job advert come with a salary attached? The Prime Minister thinks so, but I’m not convinced. This question comes after Andy Burnham urged businesses to publish pay details now, ahead of upcoming legislation to make disclosure compulsory. The government argues that greater pay transparency would help jobseekers, particularly young people entering the workforce for the first time, make informed decisions about employment opportunities and reduce the risk of pay discrimination. Those are worthwhile goals. Candidates understandably want to know the salary before committing to an often lengthy application and interview process. But encouraging good practice is different from legislating for it. Compulsory disclosure risks adding to employers’ growing compliance burden while overlooking how recruitment works in practice. My own experienc