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Foreign hiring has slowed across tech, with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown prompting some firms to reduce H-1B visa sponsorships.
Nvidia, one of the most coveted employers in the field, appears largely undeterred. Federal filings suggest Nvidia is spending aggressively to maintain its lead in the AI race, hiring across both hardware and software roles while also staffing up on customer-facing positions to help deploy its systems widely. READ MORE
New York law firm Milbank said on Tuesday it will increase salaries for its associates to as high as $455,000, likely triggering a wave of similar pay raises among large U.S. firms that traditionally align compensation for junior lawyers to remain competitive.
Milbank's move, which follows an earlier round of raises in the industry in 2023, comes after large law firms posted strong financial results in 2025, though lawyer compensation and investments in technologies like AI have also buoyed expenses. READ MORE
If the big payday is the big motivator for pursing an MBA, the M7s are still showing the money.
A 2025 graduate of Harvard Business School scored a base salary of $470,000 to start, the highest reported salary of any other graduate at any other business school, according to data collected in U.S. News & World Report as part of the magazine’s annual ranking of U.S. B-schools.
At least two more graduates at Columbia Business School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania earned base salaries of $450,000. READ MORE
Managing executive compensation is a growing challenge for financial services firms, with nearly nine in 10 (89%) saying their in-house technology can’t keep pace with demand, according to new research by CSC, a provider of business administration and compliance solutions.
The research shows that rising complexity, regulatory pressure, and expanding global participation place increasing strain on internal systems and teams. READ MORE
Tennessee Valley Authority's Board of Directors says they are “fully aligned” with President Trump’s call for fiscal discipline.
Their new statement comes following an announcement the energy provider would be making major cuts to executive compensation and leadership positions. READ MORE
Shareholders at Palo Alto Networks Inc. have a recurring beef with the company over how much it pays the chief executive officer and other senior leaders. READ MORE
California employers in the health care industry should prepare for increased scrutiny of executive compensation as a new statewide initiative heads toward the November 3, 2026, General Election ballot.
The California Secretary of State announced that Initiative 1985, formally titled “Limits Compensation for Health Care Executives, Managers, and Administrators. Initiative Statute,” became eligible for the ballot on May 12, 2026. READ MORE
As previously reported in Proskauer’s client alert (available here), on May 19, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed significant amendments to its public company reporting framework to simplify the existing filer status regime and substantially expand eligibility for scaled disclosure accommodations. Consistent with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’ plan to “Make IPOs Great Again,” the proposal is part of a broader effort to reduce compliance burdens and costs in order to encourage companies to enter and remain in the public markets.
This is particularly relevant for executive compensation. If adopted, the amendments would significantly reduce the executive compensation disclosure burden for a large number of public companies. READ MORE
For employees at private companies, equity compensation is a deferred promise that the company’s success will eventually translate into personal financial gain. According to Morgan Stanley at Work’s most recent State of the Workplace Financial Benefits Study, 67% of employees and 88% of HR leaders at private companies say the prospect of a future liquidity event or IPO is important to them.
However, with the IPO market still navigating uncertain economic conditions, many of those employees are in a prolonged holding pattern because they are invested in an outcome with unclear timing. PwC’s 2026 market outlook suggests that investors remain selective, and companies still need the scale, profitability and operating discipline to come to market on favorable terms. For employees holding equity, that keeps the promise of a future payout intact while leaving the timing of that payoff unresolved. READ MORE
Elon Musk stands to receive one of the largest compensation packages ever proposed if SpaceX achieves a series of ambitious financial and operational milestones, according to the company’s recent S-1 filing.
The package consists of two separate equity awards that together could grant Musk more than 1.3 billion shares. At the highest valuation targets, the awards could be worth approximately $760 billion. READ MORE
On May 19, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published proposed Release No. 33-11419 (the Proposed Rules), which represents the most significant overhaul of the public company reporting and capital-raising framework in 20 years. The Proposed Rules, in part, extend the reduced compensation disclosure obligations currently reserved for emerging growth companies (EGCs) and smaller reporting companies (SRCs) to a significantly broader set of public companies (including all newly public companies).
Currently, public companies are classified into five filer status categories: large accelerated filers (LAFs), accelerated filers (AFs), non-accelerated filers (NAFs), SRCs, and EGCs. Each category is subject to different disclosure requirements, filing deadlines, and regulatory accommodations. The Proposed Rules would streamline this framework by consolidating filer status into two categories: LAFs and NAFs, plus a new subcategory of small non-accelerated filers (SNFs). READ MORE
A federal appeals court has handed a software company a partial win after the NLRB ruled it illegally fired four engineers over a salary spreadsheet.
The D.C. Circuit on May 26, 2026 upheld the National Labor Relations Board's finding that Vermont Information Processing illegally fired Christopher Bendel, the engineer who created the spreadsheet. But it vacated the Board's findings as to three of his coworkers and sent those cases back for further proceedings. READ MORE
Virginia recently enacted a pay transparency law requiring employers to include a pay range in all job postings and prohibiting employers from seeking the salary history of a prospective employee. This is Virginia’s third attempt at passing pay transparency and salary history legislation; however, the previous two efforts in 2024 and 2025 were vetoed by then-Governor Glenn Youngkin (R). Under the new law, most Virginia employers will be required to disclose a pay range in their job postings and will be prohibited from asking prospective employees their salary history or using their salary history in determining the employee’s pay. The law will go into effect on July 1, 2026, and applies broadly to any individual or legal entity which employs one or more individuals. READ MORE
Not long ago, organizations wooed candidates with promises of exponential growth. They showered candidates with lavish signing bonuses and endless job growth. According to a ZipRecruiter New Hires survey, this frenzy has quieted to make way for a shift in what candidates really want.
Candidates no longer chase just a dream role. Instead, they seek higher job satisfaction along with stability. The flashy allure of a disruptive startup no longer commands the same devotion. Workers want a safe harbor from sudden layoffs and shifting corporate whims. READ MORE
The amount you receive in Social Security is determined by four factors (assuming you qualify): Your work history, your earnings history, the year you were born and the age at which you first claim benefits.
Some of these things – especially earnings and work history – are intertwined. To calculate your monthly benefit, the Social Security Administration takes your 35-highest earning years and then adjusts for inflation. Higher lifetime earnings mean you receive higher Social Security benefits. READ MORE
Salaried workers’ pay growth has outpaced gains among hourly earners in the past year, with advertised wages declining outright among hourly workers in IT, software development, and other STEM fields, according to a new analysis from the Indeed Hiring Lab.
The analysis drew on pay information across millions of job postings from the beginning of 2025 through early 2026, finding that posted wages for salaried roles grew 2.9% while advertised pay for their hourly counterparts rose only 1.7%. READ MORE
The upward trajectory of CEO compensation moderated in 2025 amid ongoing economic uncertainty. The median total compensation* for S&P 500 chief executives reached $17.7 million in 2025, representing a 5.9% increase from the previous year. While pay continues to climb, this single-digit uptick marks the smallest annual growth rate since 2022, when median pay grew by just 0.9%. Last year’s study recorded a 9.7% increase, in line with the typical annual change in CEO compensation.
For the 16th year, Equilar and the Associated Press have partnered to analyze CEO compensation across the S&P 500. This annual study tracks pay trends for CEOs who have led their companies for at least two consecutive fiscal years. To be included in the 2026 study, companies must have filed their proxy statements between January 1 and April 30, 2026 READ MORE
Executive compensation is rarely easy, but it feels meaningfully different today. Compensation committees are operating with narrower margins for error amid more frequent and less predictable volatility. Strategic pivots unfold in compressed timeframes. Performance patterns are uneven. Market sentiment changes rapidly. Leadership transitions occur against backdrops that would have seemed implausible a decade ago.
At the same time, scrutiny is expanding beyond pay outcomes and alignment with common financial measures to the broader context. Investors, proxy advisors, employees and regulators are paying closer attention to how credibly boards explain the judgments underlying their decisions, not just mathematical outcomes. In this environment, two issues increasingly appear on committee agendas: how incentives support innovation without diluting accountability and how compensation reflects rapidly evolving risks that are less visible and harder to quantify. READ MORE
State Farm has told its 19,000 agents it is making significant changes to the compensation and benefits package for agents. Several agents have said this will substantially reduce their earnings.
The Bloomington-based company is also cutting benefits for retired insurance agents. State Farm briefly mentioned the changes last month at the agency convention and sent a pre-recorded video and follow-up email Monday. READ MORE