Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept • Hacker News Board

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#221

Post by chasd00 » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 2:57 PM UTC

alexjplant wrote: post #205

anal_reactor wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I earn like €100k per year. Not a huge salary, but definitely above average. My family lives in Eastern Europe. Once I was hanging out with my cousin and his friends, all of these people had minimum-wage jobs. Not really my type of social circle, but I have no issues being cool for an evening. Then suddenly my cousin drinks one too many and starts blabbering about how "fucking rich" I am and all eyes turn to me becau…

Class warfare is a chart-topping hit in the US too. I've been on the receiving end of this rhetoric a few times in social situations but it's always been by college-educated people who get their politics from specific corners of the internet. They view those below them as ignorant, culturally-regressive boors and those above them as malicious hyper-capitalistic villains. That they've never dropped a fry basket or mop…

> They view those below them as ignorant, culturally-regressive boors and those above them as malicious hyper-capitalistic villains.

to rephrase an old Chris Rock joke, "the worst thing to an enlightened college-educated person with a nickle is anyone else with a dime".

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#222

Post by zamadatix » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

gcr wrote: post #218

jakevoytko wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An old neighbor of mine was a headhunter. He once told me that some companies had a trick to get around the law. Upon getting hired, you'd sign a document saying that you'd agree to all policies in the employee handbook. Pretty standard stuff. One of the company policies was that you needed to prove any previous salary you stated in the negotiation. If it was too far off, they'd just terminate you. The trick is that…

Isn’t that too late to negotiate compensation? I had figured most of the value is knowing how to properly lowball candidates

It sounds like negotiation would still be done however it normally would before things got to this point.

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#223

Post by moregrist » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #91

tombert wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I've applied for jobs and done salary negotiations, I try pretty hard to find out the max I can get using as many variables that I think are relevant (e.g. years of experience, previous companies I've worked for, projects I've contributed to, etc). No one is writing an article trying to expose me for this. I think the concern is how invasive they can be when doing this. It's one thing to quickly search your name…

> remotely comparable If it's publicly traded, the company's financial situation is laid bare. Nobody is obliged to accept a lowball offer, either.

A public company’s overall situation is laid bare. Unless you’re pretty close to the C suite, it has little to no relevance on your salary negotiation.

As we’ve seen time and again this year, highly profitable companies will often lay off workers. So the overall health of a company has little to do with how much it necessarily values employees.

And the tech industry has a record of both using machine learning to skirt laws and a history of illegally colluding to suppress wages. This feels like a greatest hits album for both.

That is my concern: that all of this data combines with some black-box invasive “AI” model and then, magically, all my offers end up being lowball. Not whether I can decline to accept a specific lowball offer.

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#224

Post by joezydeco » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 2:59 PM UTC

slicktux wrote: post #201

fred_is_fred wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t recall ever seeing a salary in my credit report. Certainly when applying for credit cards you are asked but generally they have you include all sources of income including bonus, passive income, and alimony. There are data sources for this info but I don’t think it’s technically a credit report.

Equifax’s The Work Number buys salary data from employers and they use it for income verification when applying for loans and rentals. You’d be surprised how much data is out there; and it was all sold by entities you ‘trust’. One example being the DMV

If you lease a car these days you will be swamped with offers from banks and lease-end "providers" as your end date approaches. I got really mad with the dealer until they told me it was the DMV that was selling that information.

Regarding The Work Number: you have the right to see your own report and it's worthwhile to do so. And it's scary. A lot of the information is usually incomplete and/or full of holes. I can't believe anyone would base a decision on this data.

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#225

Post by gsibble » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:04 PM UTC

canpan wrote: post #8

I wonder if the winning game becomes your own boss and tiny companies. I want to do the jump, but lack of courage, good ideas, sales skills and a very good salary still holding me back (open for suggestions). But if the very good salary would go away, the scales tip instantly.

It is. I am a fractional CTO running my own consulting business and I make 3-5x as much as I ever did working for one company. And all my clients are very happy.

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#226

Post by Balgair » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:05 PM UTC

jakevoytko wrote: post #190

alexpotato wrote: post #164

Many years ago, back when companies could ask for your previous compensation [0], a hiring manager once said to me "don't ever lie about your past compensation". I wasn't sure how they could figure this out at the time until someone later pointed out that many corporations do a credit history check on you as part of the background check. This gives them access to past compensation. The information asymmetry here is,…

An old neighbor of mine was a headhunter. He once told me that some companies had a trick to get around the law. Upon getting hired, you'd sign a document saying that you'd agree to all policies in the employee handbook. Pretty standard stuff. One of the company policies was that you needed to prove any previous salary you stated in the negotiation. If it was too far off, they'd just terminate you. The trick is that…

Christ, that sounds like a colossal waste of time for everyone

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#227

Post by futureproofd » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:17 PM UTC

impish9208 wrote: post #156

There was a story recently about how large landlords use salary data to raise rents. If they see you got a raise, they’ll increase your rent accordingly. And pretty soon, retailers will do the same. Your personalized price for a gallon of milk at Walmart will reflect your annual raise. I love living in the future!

Large institutional landlords use Equifax data, TWN, and other 3rd party financial tracking systems to dynamically price renters across the board; new rentals, security deposit, renewals, etc. These are pricing strategies insurance companies use to their advantage, often partnering with landlords to ensure they're getting risk-reduced renters.

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#228

Post by exabrial » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:17 PM UTC

anonymars wrote: post #2

One (more) thing to opt out of: Freeze Your Data - The Work Number https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze As I understand it, payroll whores your salary out to Equifax*, who then pimps it to others * Yeah, that one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Equifax_data_breach

> Job Applications > Employers may delay making a job offer if they cannot verify your data on The Work Number.

If by doing this, can employers legally discriminate against you?

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#229

Post by noisy_boy » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

Archonical wrote: post #202

ozgrakkurt wrote: post #198

This is a very complex problem as far as I can understand. You will be in trouble if that person left their last job because they were unhappy about pay or if the value you are giving is lower than some other company is willing to pay. They will leave pretty soon in both cases. Or even worse, they might be in a hurry to find a job for some reason, then they will accept but see the job as temporary. Would be interesti…

Seeing what your neighbors are paying for rent is an amazing idea. I know there's quite a disparity in buildings. I imagine landlords will be squeezed from both sides this way - they wouldn't want the website to show how well a given tenant negotiated, so they may negotiate harder.

You can see public housing data in some countries. E.g. the housing development board in Singapore allows you to see rental data down to the physical building you stay in.

Re: Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

#230

Post by steveBK123 » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

alexpotato wrote: post #199

endymi0n wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"don't ever lie about your past compensation" — because they can't figure it out on their own and IF they do (at least in my jurisdiction), you've got a nice case on your hands to sue them for violating privacy laws. The correct answer is: ALWAYS lie about your past compensation. It's the only way to get forward, one way or the other.

This is one of those strategies that may be "correct" in the sense that it works once or twice, but isn't a great long term strategy. e.g. let's say you sue and then win: that's now in the public record (which any new hiring company can see).

Its the perfect case for why labor organizes.

Collectively battling this is good, but individually no one wants to because its personally high risk (legal costs, deter future employers hiring you) and low reward (some settlement that won't change your life).