THE number of job advertisements disclosing the salary on offer has slipped to a six-year low, according to new research.

Job site Adzuna looked at 80 million job ads advertised on the website in the past six years to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of salary transparency in the UK and across the globe.
It found that the UK has the highest rate of salary disclosure out of 19 job markets analysed in 2022, with three in five job ads disclosing an intended salary or salary range.
“That said, over the course of the last six years, there has been barely any progress, and the country is showing early signs of a slowdown, with the proportion of advertised vacancies including salary slipping to a six-year low,” a spokesperson said.
It said there was a North/South divide in salary transparency.
Yorkshire & Humber is most straight talking, with 63% of job ads disclosing pay, while London (55%), Scotland (49%) and Northern Ireland (28%) are the most secretive regions.
Interestingly, London has been cited as having both the worst ethnicity pay gap and worst gender pay gap, suggesting a correlation between a lack of transparency and inequality.
In the South West, the number of job ads revealing the salary on offer was 58.3%, a drop from 67.2% the previous year.

Sector-wise, Charity & Voluntary is the most transparent sector, while Creative & Design is the most secretive. About one in three job ads of creative and design roles featured salary information in 2022, down from 48% a year ago, the firm added.
Other worst offending sectors include Scientific & QA, with just 34.1% of job ads disclosing a salary, and Retail (37.2%).
The Energy sector has seen the biggest fall in the proportion of job ads with a salary, down -20.6 percentage points to 38.6%, followed by Creative & Design.
Healthcare & Nursing fell third fastest, slipping -10.9 percentage points to 60.2% in 2022, followed by IT which was down -10.8 percentage points.
“Falling transparency in these latter two sectors could have consequences on hiring, as companies failing to disclose pay rates could miss out on candidates amid skills shortages,” the spokesperson added.