Today, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs a long-overdue measure to advance pay equity in Illinois. The No Salary History law, which will go into effect 60 days from today, will strengthen the Illinois Equal Pay Act by prohibiting employers from asking job applicants for past wages during the hiring process. It seems simple, and it is—just don’t ask! But the effects will be life changing for many working people and their families in Illinois.

Questions about salary history are extremely common. A recent survey showed that of 15,000 people currently evaluating job offers, 43 percent had been asked for salary history during the interview process. Imagine the cumulative effects of being asked about previous wages when considering a new job over the course of a career.

Salary history questions are a major contributing factor in both racial and gender wage gaps. And this is exacerbated for women of color, who, because of the realities of intersectionality, often face both. Black women working in the U.S. make just 61 cents to a white man’s dollar. For Native American women, it’s 58 cents. For Latinas, 53 cents. And when a potential employer asks for past wages, it allows that pay inequity to continue, impacting future wages and earning potential.

Over a career, a woman of color can lose over $1 million to the wage gap, further widening the wealth gap. This loss of income has an impact on opportunities afforded to their families, support for their communities and the economy at large.

Women Employed, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law and our partners have been advocating in Illinois to combat the wage gap for years. We’ve passed the No Salary History bill twice before. But both times, the former governor vetoed it, despite bipartisan support in the General Assembly and broad public backing.

This law is a tool to fight the wage gap, and to lift the entire economy up in the process. A recent report by Heartland Alliance shows that the best way to fight poverty in Illinois is to improve the well-being of women—especially women of color. Eliminating the wage gap would cut working women’s poverty rates in half.

The reality is that compensation shouldn’t be based on past wages, but on a person’s skills, experience and the requirements of the job. Forward-thinking companies like ComEd and Salesforce have already removed salary history questions from their hiring process. It’s past time we expand that practice to all employers in Illinois.

People are ready for equal pay—just look at the outcry over the low earnings of the U.S. women’s soccer team. We know that a No Salary History law alone won’t eliminate pay discrimination in our state, but it’s a big step in strengthening protections against it.



Cherita Ellens is CEO of Women Employed. Wendy Pollack is director of the Women's Law & Policy Initiative at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.