Mandatory pay range disclosure laws forced a direct and significant rise in wages for H-1B visa holders.
April 25, 2026
Original Paper
Do Pay Range Disclosure Laws Affect Employee Compensation? Evidence from H-1B Workers
SSRN · 6632299
The Takeaway
Critics of transparency laws often argue they are bureaucratic burdens with little real-world impact. Data from H-1B workers shows that these laws significantly increased actual take-home pay by strengthening their ability to negotiate. When workers know the range, employers are forced to compete more aggressively for talent. This transparency removes the information advantage that companies traditionally use to suppress wages. Simple policy changes regarding information access can be more effective than complex minimum wage hikes for specialized labor.
From the abstract
We examine the real effects of mandatory disclosure to a key stakeholder-employees-by focusing on pay range disclosure laws that require companies to disclose salary ranges. Exploiting the staggered adoption of such laws across U.S. jurisdictions between 2019 and 2024, we analyze over four million H-1B visa cases using a stacked difference-indifferences approach. Our results show a significant increase in H-1B workers' wages after these laws took effect. The increase in employee wages is more pr