A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals that most Americans don’t ask for higher compensation when negotiating a job offer, despite knowing they should. The survey, which polled 5,188 US workers who are employed full- or part-time and aren’t self-employed, found that only 30% of respondents said they recalled asking for higher pay the last time they were hired for a job. While men were slightly more likely to say they did than women (32% versus 28%), the difference is not significant.
Among all workers who did ask for higher pay, 28% said they were given the new amount they requested, while 38% said they were offered more than what was first suggested but less than they requested. The remainder only got the initial offer. The finding shows that about 66% of job candidates got better starting salary offers after asking for more.
The survey also found that women faced less favorable outcomes than men in salary negotiations. While only 33% of men said they didn’t feel comfortable asking for higher pay, 42% of women reported feeling uncomfortable doing so. When broken out by gender, 38% of women who asked for a higher starting salary said they did not get more pay, while only 31% of men who negotiated were stuck with their initial offer.
Pew’s results suggest that the issue is not that women disproportionately don’t ask for higher salaries, but that they face obstacles when making those requests or worrying about how they will be perceived when they negotiate. The findings also reveal a bigger gender difference on other aspects of salary negotiation.
Kim Parker, director of social trends research at Pew Research Center, suggests that the narrower difference between men and women who asked for higher starting salaries could be a sign that the drumbeat about pay equity is having an impact. She notes that the survey does not have historical data for these questions, but “it’s nice to have some numbers to put to this.”
The impact of pay transparency laws that require employers to post pay ranges in job ads is uncertain. Such laws have been implemented in states such as Colorado, California, and New York City. However, it’s possible that getting more information on the pay ranges companies are willing to pay could increase the share of employees who are willing to negotiate, both male and female, in the future.
In addition to salary negotiation, the survey also explored how Americans view their jobs and how many continue to work remotely. The earlier report found that about 51% of U.S. workers are highly satisfied with their job, and about a third of workers in jobs that can be remote are still working from home full-time.