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Online Job Posts Contain Very Little Wage Information

Institute Working Paper 83 | Published December 21, 2023

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Authors

Honey Batra Research Analyst
Amanda Michaud Senior Research Economist, Institute
Simon Mongey Senior Research Economist
Online Job Posts Contain Very Little Wage Information

Abstract

We characterize the little wage information contained in online job posts. Wage information is rare: only 14% of posts contain any information. Of these, wage ranges are more common than point wages, and are wide on average, spanning 28% of the midpoint (e.g. $32,000-$42,000/yr). Posted wages are highly selected in low income occupations: 40% higher than wages of employed workers. High wage firms are more opaque, with more and wider ranges. We find zero correlation between wage information and local labor market tightness. We provide an example of bias in econometric inference that worsens as wage information falls.