New York City is reviewing a new bill that would require all employers to disclose salary ranges on job applications starting in April 2022.

The new legislation would consider applications not listing minimum and maximum salaries as an “unlawful discriminatory practice,” and will be required for any job in New York City.

If the bill is not vetoed by Jan. 14, applicants will no longer have to wait until they receive a job offer to know if the interview process is worth their time. The law would apply to jobs ads, promotions, and transfers.

Temporary staffing firms will be exempted from the revised New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), as they are already required to disclose job pay after interviews.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) plans to decide whether the bill would apply to only jobs in the city, or include all advertised New York City job openings.

Wage transparency remains a topic of conversation as states like New York seek to create equitable employment to historically underpaid communities.

New York ranked second in the country for average salaries behind the District of Columbia in 2021. An employee making $1,869 per week would have an average annual salary of about $89,712. 

In 2022, the competitive job market may benefit from applicants and employers agreeing on what a job position has to offer in advance.

California first passed its Equal Pay Act in 2018, which prohibited employers from requiring job applicants’ salary history. Since then, seven states have adopted wage transparency bills.

Laws in favor of pay equity can be found in Washington, Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada, and Connecticut. Rhode Island plans to put a wage law into effect in 2023.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) in 2020 reported that during the pandemic “women were paid just 83 cents for every dollar paid to a man,” based on data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For people of color, wage inequities persist and vary for ethnic groups in the U.S. workforce, where Latinos, Blacks, and American Indian and Alaska Natives are the most underpaid.