Economics

Making Salary Information Public Helps Close the Gender Pay Gap

  • Company disclosures led to 7 percent decline, research shows
  • Women saw more wage growth at companies with transparency

Office workers .

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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When workers know how their pay compares with their colleagues, the difference between what men and women earn gets smaller, according to new economic research.

Pay transparency has long been suspected to help close the stubborn gap between men’s and women’s average earnings, but a relatively new Danish law gave researchers from several business schools, including INSEAD, Columbia University and the University of Copenhagen, the chance to prove it.