California Steps Up to Collect Pay Data, With Feds at Square One

California’s upcoming collection of worker pay data by race and gender is a harbinger for other states to do the same, as a federal workplace civil rights agency grapples with the best way to close the country’s wage gaps.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law on Wednesday that requires employers, including Silicon Valley companies, to report their pay information to the state. It’s modeled after a federal initiative spearheaded by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the Obama years that became entangled in litigation.

The California legislation authorizes a collection of wage data, broken down by race, sex, ethnicity, ...