• Salary transparency laws are spreading across the US, with California, Washington, Rhode Island and New York City all enacting them.
• Wharton management professor Matthew Bidwell says the change gives employees the information they need to negotiate at the bargaining table.
• Salary transparency may also help close the gender pay gap, he says.
• More states are expected to enact salary transparency laws, but it’s hard to say whether it will become a federal regulation.

One of the last taboos of the American workplace — discussing salaries — is headed for extinction.

Salary transparency laws are sweeping the nation, with California, Washington, Rhode Island, and New York City enacting them this year. They join a handful of other states, including Colorado, requiring employers to post salaries on job listings and prohibiting them from penalizing applicants who do not want to provide a wage history. A longstanding practice for the public sector, salary transparency has arrived for the private sector.

Wharton management professor Matthew Bidwell champions the change, saying it gives employees the information they need to negotiate at the bargaining table. He said salary transparency may also be beneficial for closing the gender pay gap; women still earn 20% less than men.

“I’m quite happy to see this,” Bidwell said to Wharton Business Daily on SiriusXM. “In terms of enabling people to make informed choices about where they should be working and what jobs might be rewarding, it...

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