[Spooky23]

People don’t understand what they make and frequently report all sorts of wacky stuff.

I worked for an org that had a fixed pay scale and read some detailed survey data that included them. The top/bottom reports were bullshit.

People will report what they think their benefits are worth, won’t know their gross salary at all somehow, will deduct alimony, add 401k interest, miscategorize themselves (ie identify as an engineer but be a director), or just make shit up.

Surveys may target wrong. Someone who is supposed to be in Utah may be in SFO or NYC.