Why are employers allowed to ask your last wage?
What relavance has it?
It does not link to your ability just what you could last get job wise and means the poor stay poor ...
2006-08-14 11:01:43 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Careers & Employment
It means the poor stay poor!? Oh brother! The job I have now offered me almost twice what my last job paid. They knew how much I made but they offered me how much I wanted. Also, you don't have to tell them or you can lie. It's a free country, dude.
2006-08-14 11:07:27 · answer #1 · answered by Cybeq 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are allowed to ask but you are not legally obliged to tell them.
Most employers will ask so they can pay you as low as possible. I think in this situation some people would say that they were previously paid more than they really were, to try to get a higher rate of pay.
This sometimes works, but in any case they will have a better idea when they check your P45 Tax Form. They still will not know exactly what your basic wage was, as you may have worked overtime or extra hours.
The P45 only shows how much you earned in the previous employment and not how many hours that you worked, (in the current tax year).
2006-08-14 11:21:42 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you mean when you actually have the job...Here we ask for a P45 which tells the employer how much you earned in your last job. This is requested so that your tax code can be put right and that way you don't pay too much tax on your wages.
If it is in a job interview, they want to know how much you are willing to go down to, so up the amount and fight for a higher wage.
2006-08-14 11:08:40 · answer #3 · answered by Zoe 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its more to do with reading between the lines, for example if you had a 50k job and this was a 12k job then they would wonder why. Its sort of the same with being over qualified... Some less professional employers may use it to down size your pay but i am sure people look at the wage before the interview.
2006-08-14 11:09:51 · answer #4 · answered by Coley61 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lot of employers will want to see how cheap they can hire you on at. They know that they have to meet or beat the last salary, but they also want to save money where they can. Just keep playing up the experience part. Don't overplay that you want more money (even though it's a big part of what a job change really is...LOL...it's like the unspoken part).
2006-08-14 11:08:39 · answer #5 · answered by Motochic 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they could perfectly evaluate your experience and qualifications, then
it wouldn't be required.
However, it is very good evidence that someone else was willing to pay
you what you said they were.
People lie on their resumes all the time - this is one way that a prospective
employer (who is about to invest a lot of time and money towards training)
has of verifying that it won't be wasted.
2006-08-14 11:06:50 · answer #6 · answered by Elana 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They want to know the least amount you will accept as a hourly wage.
2006-08-14 12:22:54 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It gives us a rough guide of what your last employer thought you were worth, and lets us know if we can afford you.
2006-08-14 11:09:44 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They can't force you to tell... it's just them trying to keep your future salary as low as they can... try hiking it up a few grand, then they'll have to match what you tell them, or go higher and you'll be quids in;-) In either case you win!
2006-08-14 11:12:13 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
To see how it compares to the wage they're going to offer you!
2006-08-14 11:07:49 · answer #10 · answered by sammydog_uk 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋