New laws will come into effect in Europe, making it illegal for employers to ask about the current salary of staff candidates during job interviews.
The law is one of several measures to reduce wage gaps between men and women and should begin to be implemented by the latest 2026.
According to 2023 statistics from the Mediation Institute, the wage gap between men and women is currently 10%. Given differences in career choice, age, education and agreed working hours, there remains a questionable wage gap of 4,8%.
European authorities argue that one reason for the gap is a lack of transparency. Under the new directive, employers will not be asked what their current salary is when applying for a new job. Employers will also need to notify you of your starting salary before negotiation.
“The point is to get the negotiation position as good as possible by accessing more information. One of the novelties of the law is to get the right to pay the information to an employer, regardless of whether the employee is in the union or not,” said Eric Adel Helstrom, Swedish Prime Minister of the Ministry of Labor.
Today, all businesses with more than 10 employees should already conduct payroll surveys to ensure there are no gender gaps. However, the new law requires businesses with more than 100 employees to report the investigation to the supervisory authority. It is proposed to be a discrimination ombudsman.
“Then some of the pay charts will be published. Payment discrimination is already prohibited today. The purpose of the change is to make it easier to detect unfair wages by letting employees know what people with comparable tasks earn on average,” says Hellström.
