Study finds men more likely to use job offers to win raises

Men were more likely than women to use outside job offers to win higher pay at their current jobs, a finding that puts the gender pay gap in the mechanics of bargaining rather than in hiring alone. The study suggests that a worker’s ability to convert mobility into a counteroffer can shape earnings long after the original salary is set.

The research, published July 19, 2026, said renegotiation of pay accounts for about half of the gender pay gap. In the same workplace and occupation, men earned approximately 8% more than women on average, a gap that reflects not just starting pay but how compensation changes when employees bring competing offers back to the table.

That matters because outside offers function as leverage. In many offices, a raise is not delivered only through promotion ladders or annual reviews. Workers often get meaningful gains by signaling they have another option and are willing to leave if their pay does not improve. If men are more likely to use that tactic, and women are equally likely to change jobs but less likely to press current employers with an external offer, the result is a compounding advantage for the group that more often turns market mobility into immediate cash.

The study lands in a labor market where employers are trying to keep skilled staff without fueling a cycle of counteroffers. A counteroffer can solve one retention problem, but it also creates a precedent: pay growth becomes tied to who is willing to shop around and threaten a move, not simply to performance or tenure. That can reward risk-taking and self-advocacy in ways that systematically favor workers who feel more comfortable or more entitled to push hard for more money.

The pattern fits a wider body of research on negotiation behavior. A 2024 Boston University paper, Gender Differences in Negotiations and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from an Information Intervention with College Students, examined how men and women behaved differently in negotiations and how information shaped outcomes. Harvard Law School’s Harvard Gender Action Portal has also noted that women tend to enter salary negotiations with lower pay expectations, which are then ultimately fulfilled.

The broader backdrop remains stubborn. Reuters previously found a “considerable and significant gender gap,” with women earning 7% less than men on average, and earlier reporting said female managers do not close the gap on their own. In 2025, Reuters also reported that Australia’s gender pay gap stood at 18.6% in favour of men, underscoring how persistent the issue remains across labor markets.