Why workers misjudge salary and amenity tradeoffs

Researchers ran incentivized surveys asking workers to choose between pay and amenities like flexibility or learning opportunities, then tested whether correcting their salary beliefs changed their choices. Workers underestimated real starting salaries by 18% and falsely believed nicer jobs paid more. Showing people actual pay data barely moved their choices, suggesting workers make decisions based on distorted mental models of the job market—not just what they actually prefer.