New Law Could Reduce Pay Inequity On Broadway

The curtain will soon be lifted on the salaries of Broadway jobs.

Starting in April, a new law will require companies in New York City with at least four employees to include salary ranges in their job postings. Companies that do not share the information could be slapped with fines of up to $125,000.

“Lack of salary transparency is discriminatory and anti-worker,” stated former Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal, who co-sponsored the bill. “Every New Yorker should have the right to determine whether they will be able to support themselves and their family when they apply for a job,” she declared, adding that “[i]t is time to level the playing field, and restore some dignity to New Yorkers seeking employment.”

Eliminating the guessing game over the wages of advertised employment opportunities might also eliminate the gender and racial disparities in wages on Broadway.

Although several studies have found significant income inequality among performers on stage, less information is known about income inequality behind the scenes in the many marketing, public relations, and general management offices that support Broadway shows. “Like in many other industries, theater workers are not encouraged to disclose their salaries, and in many cases are reprimanded for it,” observed one theatre writer.

In fact, many theatre professionals only feel comfortable sharing their salaries anonymously through a viral online spreadsheet. “In conversations with friends and colleagues, there was a general consensus that none of us knew what the ‘norm’ was [for our respective positions],” recalled its creator, Jenna Clark Embrey.

“The first step towards wage and labor equity is wage transparency,” insisted James Madison University theatre professor Elizabeth Wislar, who led a successful social media campaign to convince Playbill and BroadwayWorld to include the wages for all jobs advertised on their websites.

“The idea is that, if there are no secrets, then every worker has a lot more bargaining power,” explained The New School economics professor Teresa Ghilarducci. Giving workers more bargaining power “will lead to equity,” she said, “because women and non-White men have had less power in getting higher wages because of endemic power relationships that already exist.”

“What the research shows and every labor economist knows and teaches is that, if salaries are kept secret, then employers pay less than they otherwise would,” professor Ghilarducci continued. “Job mobility is hindered,” she stated, and “the most desperate workers, the ones who have less mobility, less bargaining power, are hurt the most.”

“Women are often less likely to move for a better job,” she observed, because “they are kind of tied to a particular location or a commute schedule because of their family.” “They are reluctant to do market checks to go out and to see what they actually are worth for historically gender, division of labor reasons,” professor Ghilarducci said.

But, “if pay was transparent, then employers would have to kind of fess up that they are probably paying their male workers more,” and “[i]t should close the gender gap probably overnight,” the professor predicted. “The effect will be immediate,” she emphasized.

One recent study found that, at companies with transparent pay policies, the historic wage gap between men and women did not exist. While each industry is different, women working at companies with transparent pay policies actually earned, on average, at least one dollar for every dollar men earned.

“With non-White male workers, I suspect that it will take a little bit longer, even though we will have the same effect on initial negotiations being more fair for the non-White male worker,” professor Ghilarducci continued. “But, over time, employers will probably actually pay the Black men and Brown men more money even before they post the salary, because if they post a salary, then their current workers will know that they are being underpaid,” she said.

“I suspect a month before the bill goes into effect, we will see a lot of pay inequity being solved across the board,” professor Ghilarducci forecasted.

Like how a rising tide lifts all boats, the new law might also increase the compensation for all workers.

“I want to believe that the companies that are underpaying and undercutting their staff with candidates coming through are now going to see that, if they do not pay fairly or up to the standards that others are planning to pay, then they need to step up their game,” commented Alexandria Bellivan, who oversees the job development program at The Actors Fund. Underpaying theatre companies will need to raise their wages to retain and attract top workers.

With the wages being offered at competing companies no longer unknown, “[p]otential and current employees can make informed comparisons and be prepared to negotiate and advocate for themselves, and for each other,” echoed professor Wislar.

In addition, the new law should save some time during the job search process.

Instead of the same old song and dance of needing to submit a job application, sit through multiple rounds of interviews, and receive a offer letter to learn how much a job will pay, “candidates are now going to see how much a job pays before even applying for it,” Bellivan explained. Workers will not need to waste time jumping through hoops for jobs with salaries that they would never be willing to accept. Likewise, employers would not need to waste time interviewing candidates who would never accept their offers.

“Salary transparency is so important in terms of saving everyone’s time,” Bellivan said.