Yahoo Finance Millennials are more open than Boomers to talk about pay
Millennials aren’t nearly as shy as their parents when it comes to discussing pay with everyone from friends and family to coworkers, according to a new Bankrate.com study. Perhaps most notably, the study of over 1,000 respondents also revealed that about one-third of millennials had divulged their pay with coworkers, compared to just 18% of baby boomers.
Over half of American millennials, which can be defined as those between the age of 18 to 37, also reported discussing pay with friends, compared to just 33% of 54- to 72-year-olds.
“Sharing your salary information has long been considered taboo, but that notion could be changing, especially among young adults,” said Bankrate.com analyst Amanda Dixon, pointing to the discrepancy in the willingness to discuss pay across generations. “I think it makes sense when you think about millennials being more accustomed to sharing on social media, so it’s not surprising that they would be more open than their parents to talking about salary.”
The findings largely echo the same trend of increased millennial openness also revealed last year in a Cashlorette study.
Divulging salary and the gender pay gap
Overall, nearly one-third of all adult Americans admitted they had never revealed to a live-in romantic partner how much they make. Men were also more likely than women to reveal their salary to a coworker, as well as those with higher pay and higher education levels.
But a willingness to discuss pay in the office can help bolster an employee’s positioning when it comes time for salary negotiations. There is even evidence that suggests pay transparency may help with the gender pay gap. For example, one Institute for Women’s Policy Research report credited the public sector’s narrower pay gap to the fact government organizations often post pay data publicly, compared to private employers that tend to more frequently discourage pay discussions among employees.
“Being transparent about pay might help when it comes to the pay gap,” Davis said, “But there’s still a long way to go, so I think it’s going to take a lot more than just talking about it to make pay equal.”
Zack Guzman is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @zGuz.
Read more:
How Juul became the FDA’s latest target
Juul surpasses Facebook as fastest startup to reach decacorn status
Al Gore rejects call to assume Elon Musk’s role as Tesla chairman