Path to a Living Wage Starts With Companies’ Full Disclosure
Corporate America needs to report how much it is paying its workers.
Wages are among companies’ biggest expense, so why aren't they required to disclose them?
Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg
U.S. public companies make hundreds of disclosures in their annual reports. Amazingly, how much they pay workers isn’t one of them. That needs to change.
U.S. wages are rising after decades of stagnation. And yet, by all indications, income inequality in the U.S. is the highest ever and growing, and tens of millions of full-time workers still fail to earn a living wage. As numerous economists and observers have warned, widening income disparity and workers’ inability to secure a dignified living threaten the long-term health of the economy, sow political and social discord and raise doubts about the viability of capitalism and democracy.