Does revealing salary expectations affect employment prospects?

Last registered on September 08, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Does revealing salary expectations affect employment prospects?
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016692
Initial registration date
September 07, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 08, 2025, 9:34 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Egypt
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Paolo Falco
Affiliation
University of Copenhagen
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Roberta Gatti
PI Affiliation
World Bank
PI Name
Asif Islam
PI Affiliation
World Bank

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-09-08
End date
2025-11-30
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
Gender, Hiring, Discrimination, Salary Expectations
JEL code(s)
C93, D83, J31, J71, M51
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We conduct a correspondence (CV) study in Egypt to test whether revealing salary expectations affects employers’ responses. We create four Egyptian-sounding applicant identities (two male, two female) and cross them with three salary expectation conditions: (i) no expectations stated, (ii) “low” expectation, and (iii) “high” expectation—yielding 12 arms. We apply once to each vacancy harvested from the main job platforms operating in Egypt during a two-week window and active at the start of the intervention. All CVs are standardized for qualifications, experience, and application materials; only the name (gender signal) and the salary-expectation line vary. The primary outcome is employer callback, tracked via dedicated job-portal accounts, unique email addresses, and phone numbers. We plan an estimation comparing callback rates across arms and testing whether stating expectations—and their level—affects employer engagement overall and by gender signal. We will explore pre-specified heterogeneity by employer characteristics (sector, customer interaction, posted salary, and proxies for competitive pressure).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Falco, Paolo, Roberta Gatti and Asif Islam. 2025. "Does revealing salary expectations affect employment prospects?." AEA RCT Registry. September 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16692-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2025-09-08
Intervention End Date
2025-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Callback (binary): Any employer-initiated positive response within the follow-up window (e.g., interview/test invitation, request for additional information) recorded via job-portal messages, dedicated email, or phone.

Ancillary: Type of callback (interview/test vs. information request) and time-to-first-callback.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Heterogeneity in treatment effects by employer characteristics: sector/industry, whether the job is customer-facing, posted salary level/band (if available), and a proxy for market competition faced by the firm (e.g., industry concentration or within-platform posting density).

Additional non-primary measures: time-to-callback; number of contact attempts; message “positivity” (interview/test vs. generic reply).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Setting and sampling: We scrape vacancies from the main job platforms operating in Egypt over a two-week period. We apply only to postings verified as active at launch and send at most one application per vacancy.

Treatments: 4 applicant identities (two male, two female) × 3 expectation conditions (None, Low Expected Monthly Salary, High Expected Monthly Salary) = 12 arms, assigned in equal proportions. Names are common Egyptian names; CV content and cover text are otherwise identical.

Implementation: Applications are submitted through job-portal accounts created for the study. Each identity has a dedicated email and phone number. We standardize sending times and avoid repeat contacts with the same employer.

Outcomes and tracking: Callbacks are captured from (a) job-portal inboxes, (b) dedicated email accounts, and (c) phone logs (missed calls/voicemails/WhatsApp if applicable).

Analysis: Comparisons of callback rates across arms using OLS or logit with robust SEs. We will report pooled “any expectations” vs. “none,” low vs. high expectations, and interactions with gender signal. Pre-specified heterogeneity analyses use employer characteristics collected from postings. No multiple applications to the same vacancy.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Random lottery using a pseudo-random number generator in code to assign vacancies in equal proportions to the 12 arms.
Randomization Unit
Individual vacancy. Each active vacancy is randomly assigned to exactly one of the 12 treatment variations in equal numbers, with one application per vacancy.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
We have approximately 7,500 vacancies that have been harvested and will apply to those that are still active at launch. We anticipate at least 3,600–4,800 applications.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately 300–400 vacancies per arm (12 arms), totaling 3,600–4,800 applications.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Research Ethics Committee at the Department of Economics at University of Copenhagen
IRB Approval Date
2025-05-23
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials