I think all of us have this same experience: when face with a new job prospect, we either bargain first for the salary (what we call in economics wage bargaining), or we just take the salary that is offered (what we call in economics wage posting). Of course, it also depends on the opportunity given--some who are able to would bargain for a higher salary, while other firms would offer a take-it-or-leave-it salary that would leave the employee no choice.
In their latest NBER working paper entitled, "Evidence on the Determinants of the Choice between Wage Posting and Wage Bargaining," Robert Hall and Alan Krueger points out that there are significant differences between these two types of job entrants and how they eventually end up with:
"Our analysis of the distribution of wages shows that wage dispersion is higher among workers who bargained for their wages. Wages are higher among bargainers than non-bargainers, after adjusting for the differing compositions of the groups. These results on wages support the job-ladder model: that is, workers who had the option to remain at their earlier jobs when they took their current jobs can earn higher wages than those without that option."
The authors surveyed a representative sample of 14,000 U.S. workers to inquire about the wage determination process at the time they were hired into their current or most recent jobs. One third of their survey respondents reported undergoing wage bargaining, while one third underwent wage posting.
Among their other significant findings are:
1. College graduates and those with professional training are rather unlikely to hold posted-wage jobs. Thus, wage posting appears to be much more important in the jobs that are available to those with less education.
2. Jobs held by women are more likely to have been posted-wage positions.
3. Twenty-eight percent of those who did not graduate from high school report bargaining over wages, versus 56 percent of those with professional degrees. Bargaining is also more common among minority workers (over 40 percent) and less common for women (24 percent)."
4. Among knowledge workers (those with a post-college education whose work involves problem solving) almost all (86 percent) report bargaining. Among blue-collar workers, only 5 percent report that they bargain over the wage.
5. In considering a new job opportunity, having the option to keep the current job, which about half of job-seekers do, will substantially influence one's tendency to establish a wage through bargaining. This is especially true for more educated, problem-solving workers.
6. For observationally similar workers, wages resulting from bargaining may be higher than posted wages.
7. When the distinction between wage posting and bargaining is meaningful, wage inequality among workers who accept posted wages is lower wage inequality among those who bargain.
Well, these findings are not really that surprising. It all boils down to two words: human capital. Human capital in this case can be used as leverage. The higher your human capital, the more attractive you are to employers--now you can demand higher wages.